Breath of Fire: Of Times and Destiny
by Oneofyourfans
Summary: A group of friends from Terra have been summoned and separated at two eras of Aspiara post BOF1 and 2. There, they must cooperate with the heroes in order to find their friends and way home, but darkness lurks at the depts of time..... R&R plz
1. Prologue: History of Terra

**Author's Note: Hi, this is Oneofyourfans. As you can see, this is my first attempt to make my first fic which is Breath of Fire, which in turn is one of the first RPG's I play. Before I start my story, I must first make a few announcement. **

**Firstly, the characters I have created belongs to me and others borrowed from anime/games/manga are used for my personal enjoyment on writing this story. **

**Secondly, I decided to chose Terra, which is actually an alternate Earth which have no relation with our 'real' Earth and I have taken liberty in messing around the timeline and place to suit this story. So remember, this is fiction, not real.**

**Lastly, the characters which I have borrowed belongs to their respective game/anime/manga and I have no ownership over them.**

**Please read and review and tell me what you think of this. Thank you for your attention.**

**Breath of Fire: Of Time and Destiny**

**_Prologue: History of Terra _**

Since the beginning of the human civilization first recorded in writings, a mystic power called magic has been used for centuries among many great empires and kingdom. This includes civilization from the ancient Roman Empire in the Continent of Europe to the Far East of the Hans Empire, and the Siberian Empire to the North and various kingdoms from the Continent of Africa.

At the time, every human being from peasant to high class nobles has been in less or more degree able to use their magic for their every day lives and emperors' armies using magic (and swords as well) to defeat barbarians or other kingdoms to extend their new territories. But the writings exist and found today has evidence to suggest that even in ancient time scholars of the time have been unable to determine why magic exist. Various theories have been proposed, but none seem to solve the mysteries at the time.

But even with powerful magic powers at their disposal, the great empires and kingdoms could not escape fate when the time for them to fall has come and new powers to replace them, such as the fall of the Roman Empire at the year 1000 and the fall of the Hans Empire at 2 years later. This cycle of fall and rise of power is not surprising, but nobody at the time knew that the fall of these ancient empires have gave way for a new revolution that will change the face of history.

In the year 1400, four hundred years after the fall of the ancient empires, a different kind of revolution have began to appear when technological machines began to appear in force. Coincide with the Industrial Revolution that happen throughout the world, the invention of these machines have began to gave hope to people who has little or no magic powers to compete and improve their social status in the magic-able society. But to the magic-users and their hard core supporters, they have seen this trend as a danger to their status and power and began to try to eliminate them, justify them by saying the machine-users as 'heretics' which will bring chaos to the world.

Unable to live peacefully in this kind of environment, the machine-users and their supporters began to leave in en masse to find a new world where they can safely do their expertise without fear of reprisal from the magic-users. The refugees leave from the ports of Europe, Africa and the great Asia Continent in the greatest number of ships used in history known as The Great Exodus, which happen on the year 1523. To the magic-users, they are glad that these 'heretics' have left their society without a need a war and bid them good riddance and did not gave pursuit to fleeing refugees. Little did they know, this is a big mistake they will never be able to rectify………

On the year 1723, suddenly an unknown ship has arrived at the port of Osaka of the Yamamoto Empire, generally known to the west as the land of the rising sun. The ship's captain claimed they are from the Confederation of Free Nations, which consists of two giant continents of America, the giant Australia Continent and its neighbor New Zealand and various islands previously not known to outside world (historians believe it is the ignorant and lack of exploration of the magic-users that made these continents and islands undetected) and want to made peaceful trade relations with the empire.

The Empire refused and instead threaten them to surrender, which the captain outright refused. This immediately turn into a conflict with samurai warriors tried to storm the ship but were turn back in the face of 'fire sticks' which made loud boom and kills from a distance longer than bow and arrows can (this is the first confirmed contact of guns being used). Eventually the Confederates managed to escape before the empire reacts, but both sides have many casualties in the end.

Four days later, a Confederation armada of 25 black ships with steel hulls began sailing towards the island nation under cover of darkness and began bombarding Osaka with long range cannon fire which mostly destroyed the Imperial defenses on the beach and the watchtowers toppled, sending soldiers and civilians alike running for their lives. Few hours later after initial bombardment, troops arming with swords and guns began storming the beach and began to attack and captured Osaka and its surrounding towns. Two days later, the Confederation with support of cannons began to attack the Imperial Capital with sheer speed that shocked the defenders but the samurai warriors fought on valiantly to protect the capital despite heavy losses and managed to drive the attackers away with their magic-users coming to assist.

These events that now transpired have shocked the world of magic-users and they have realized that the Confederation are descendants of the machine-users from 200 years ago. Determined to destroy the 'heretics' once and for all, the Council of High Wizardry based in Berlin have issued an order to attack the heartland of the Confederation, which is the North America Continent and immediately formed the Imperial Order of Magi, consist of many countries from Europe to Far East. Ships have been assembled and began to set sailed for the continent, but the Confederates have knew this as well and have begun assembling their fleet in defense of their homeland. Major naval battles began on both fronts from the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans which results in a stalemate for 50 years despite the claims of major victories by both sides (though history have show that small scale land battle do occur on the beach of Normandy attempted by Confederation troops but that has failed).

After suffering heavy losses and the people began yearning for peace, the moderates from the Confederation and the Imperial Order have began negotiation to have a ceasefire (despite the disapproval of some members who wish to keep the war coming). Finally on the year 1774, both sides have signed on a ceasefire treaty, effectively ending the war. This war which shows no clear victor but the most horrible destruction that Man can wield with magic or technology, with over a quarter of the world's population killed in combat or missing and beautiful landscapes destroyed beyond recovery. This war is known in history as the 50 Year War or War of the Lions and Dragons (the Confederation has notably lions as their flag emblem while the Imperial Order has dragons as their flag emblem as well).

But despite the signing of ceasefire treaty, there is still uneasy tension in the air between the Confederation and the newly formed Alliance of Imperial Forces (which the old Imperial Order changed its name after the treaty is signed) despite the booming trade relation that benefits them. Some people even say that the second war that may occur will destroy humanity and the world of Terra once and for all. This assumption is correct in some way but it was not the humans who ultimately started it………….

On the year 1900, after years of uneasy peace, something terrible and unthinkable happened and it is not caused by human hand. On July 24th 1900, in the city known as London on the continent of Europe, people were just doing their daily routines when suddenly hordes of black shadows began to cover the city as if the sun was block. When people look up, expected to see the black clouds that signify rain storm, instead saw terrible creatures flying from the top. Before anyone could do or say anything, the creatures flew down and attacked in force. London wasn't the only one attacked; almost all the major cities that are in the vicinity of Atlantic Ocean were attacked, this attack began on the European continent to the African continent, yet at the same time these creatures also attack major cities on both North and South American continent.

These creatures (later became known as demons) began slaughtering helpless civilians and destroy buildings whenever they see, it is as if the creatures are here to simply destroy and kill. Both Confederation and the Imperial Alliance that has been caught by surprised mobilized their armies to fight them but the overwhelming numbers and sheer brute force have the armies of both powers taking numerous casualties and can barely protect the civilians and help them escape. Not only that, the creatures did not just mindlessly attack major population centers at all, they also seem to have a well coordinated attack on military installations, command and control center, important political center etc as if to destroy the humanity's ability to act of defense against on them.

In the first five years since the start of the demons invasion, the initiative lies with the demons. They have successfully destroyed all cities in their wake and crushed anyone who dares to stand in their way. Soon 7 years after the invasion, the whole Continent of Europe has fallen and both continents of South America and Africa have been completely overrun by the demons while almost all areas of the North America Continent except the most northern areas and Alaska have fallen. Nobody knows why the demons do not attack those areas; some says it is the cold weather that keeps them away, while others believe maybe the heavy concentration of Confederation troops, assigned to keep an eye on Imperials from Siberia act as a barrier against them. Whatever the reasons are, the demons do not come near Alaska and the northern area of North America which in turn gave the armies time to prepare.

Not so for the people of Europe, Africa and South America who all tried to fled to the Far East to seek refuge in anyway they can escape by ships, airships (which was invented on the year 1850 and is popular with both powers), or by foot with constant danger of being attacked by demons at every corner. 10 years after its invasion, the demons stopped invading as if it is ready to recuperate and prepare for its major thrust into the human survivors in the Asian Continent.

Facing with this threat, the surviving leaders of the Confederation and Imperial Alliance decided that they must form an alliance to meet this threat unconditionally. Both forces began building defensive lines along the border of Kiev Empire with Stalingrad as its strategic base of the north to Tehran as a strategic base of the south. For the first time in history, both magic-users and machine-users have work cooperatively to fight a common threat to their survival.

Especially on this particular day, on February 18th 1915 the demons have made their big push to the humans' defensive line from all fronts. The human allies who have recuperated from five years of demons idle activity are well prepared to meet them. No one would believe and imagined that swordsmen from the Imperial legion are attacking the demons with cannon support from the Confederate troops and Imperial mages raining death of destruction on the demons with gunners from elite Confederates troops protecting them. But it is true and in the Alaska front, the brave troops there are also giving the demons "one hell of a time", while countries in East Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand are joining together to began training troops, building weapons, food supplies etc to the front lines (it seems the demons lack the ability to fly that far).

Even so, the human allies are forced to take defensive position for 20 years due to lack of intelligence on the demons (spies that were sent never came back) and after several expeditionary force have lost contact, High Command believe any offensive will be considered suicide despite some of the more enthusiastic officers. But one day, a light known as hope began to shine when on April 5th 1936, soldiers patrolling the defensive line on Siberia have reported seeing two or three light pillars showed up somewhere west and also heard some sort beastly roar. In fact everyone around the globe can hear the roar too and people began to think whether it is a demon or not.

But when High Command decided to send another expeditionary force out of the defensive line few days later after that event, the leader of the force, General James, have arrived at the occupied city where demon forces are concentrated, they were surprised to see the demons were already dead, like they were killed by something huge. Surprised and cautious at the same time, the High Command sends more troops out of the defensive line to cover more ground; in the end all of them have reported the same results similar to General James. Excited by the news, High Command have decided to send a major offensive forces that will liberate the lands occupied by the demons by sending three great armies to liberate the European Continent and the African Continent, while another major offensive will began from Alaska and a huge naval force will be launched to assist and liberate the American Continents.

After eight months of preparation, the humans finally went on the offensive, crossing the defensive line and began liberating lands occupied by the demons. The demons in the occupied areas have made resistance but compared to years of attacking the defensive lines, these demons have lost their ferocity that some of them even began to ran away at first sight of the human army. The same thing also happen on the American Continent but High Command decided to keep on the offensive. It took at least 4 years for the armies to liberate the land and exterminate the last demons. But then the naval forces send to liberate American Continent has reported seeing a strange light in the vicinity of the Bermuda Islands, when further investigated, found that the light is actually some sort of force field in triangle shape in place which ironically the same place as the Devil's Triangle which the local have come to fear and respect. Experienced and wise magicians have examined the force field have concluded that it is some sort of seal and they can sense the demon aura inside it, meaning the demons are sealed by someone (everyone also agreed that this must be the place the demons launched the attack from since the start of war).

Nobody knows who sealed the demons, but everyone in the world rejoiced at the sudden 'defeat' of the demons and that ends the nightmare that plagues them. This war which finally ended on the year 1940 was called the Demon Wars and during this war, about half of Terra's population was wiped out and most of the land occupied by the demons will take years to recover. But there is a strange rumor going on in the army, according to some survivors of the occupied land which managed to hide themselves from the demon and later rescued by the liberation army, they say they saw three humans transforming themselves into a reptilian with giant wings on their back in a pillar of light and their roars can be heard from miles away. Most dismissed these accounts as trauma from the years of hiding out but the fact the survivors mentioned the pillar of lights have to do with these individuals do seem to interest some of the people and they went to investigate, but never found the individuals responsible.

Even though the demons are gone, the evil presence they left seems to affect the animals, insects and even plants, mutating them into monsters which endanger communities struggled to rebuild after the war and troops have been deployed to protect them which sometime stretch them to the limit. That is when on the year 1960, a former veteran soldier by the name of Jack O'Neil, first created the ACADEMIA, a training facility dedicated to training next generation of soldiers in terms of battle ability, magic skill, alchemy skills and tech skills. This organization has received funds from many wealthy individuals and tends to earn money through lending mercenaries to help, making it independent from any countries (1).

At first it struggled, but in the end with the help of other fellow soldiers and other generous people, the ACADEMIA has become an important presence to eliminate monsters, bounty hunting evil men, help locals etc, effectively helping government and armies to free up much of the burden. As for the seal on Bermuda Triangle, the surviving countries and rebuilding countries all formed the United Nations of Terra at year 1948 and has naval forces in the area to keep an eye out on it.

Now the year is 2190, 250 years later after the end of the war, ACADEMIA today has many branches around the world now, and our story starts at a certain location in the North America Continent………..

(1) To those who think so, yep I took the Garden from FF8 and used and rename it here for my use.


	2. Chapter 1: How it all begins

**Breath of Fire: Of Time and Destiny**

**_Chapter One: How it all begins…._**

**Time:Terra year 2190**

**Location:Neo New York, Terra**

Neo New York City, named after the previous city destroyed by the demons, it was rebuild after the war and is now one of the fastest growing city in Terra with tall skyscrapers and buildings everywhere, airships and passenger planes have been flying in frequently to the airport, bringing people to find their dreams in an unknown land, despite the fact the city is near one of the dangerous place in the world. Subway stations has also been full of people to travel about the city but nothing beats a good old teleportation station where with a fee, this magic portal will send you anywhere in the city.

At the harbor where civilian ships of all kind have been entering and leaving in a constant rate, one part of the harbor shows that it is a naval port with military personnel on it, and the warships that docked there have been loaded up with supplies so that they could travel to the most maximum security place in the whole world: the Bermuda Triangle. This port serves as one the most important supply point for naval vessels coming from the Pacific Ocean to take turns in guarding that place, after all nobody is taking any chances should the demons decide to break out.

On a twelve storey apartment building located near the harbor, a 17 year old boy has been found sleeping in his room. He was sleeping so content when suddenly his alarm clock rang. The boy obviously does not want to get up by turning the pillow on his head, trying to keep that annoying sound out. But the alarm clock never stops ringing and something punches it hard on the button that it broke.

"Now that's better….." the boy muttered before going back to sleep. Just as he was about to go to dreamland, something cold splash on him.

"Gyaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!" the boy quickly jump out of his bed and fall to the side, finding himself dripping wet and shivering as well.

"Finally you decide to wake up on me my dear younger brother; I have to help you with that since you went to sleep again."

The boy quickly whirled around and stared at the entrance of his room. There is a blonde shoulder-length hair, Caucasian girl standing near the door and she was wearing a long yellow sleeve t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans with white shoes and she was carrying a bucket on her right hand which is quite empty.

"Ssssttteeeelllllllaaaaa! What the hell you think you doing? Are you trying to make me catch a cold?" The boy glare at Stella, who chuckled at his reaction.

"Like I say, Jack, you need a helping hand to wake up and besides I do not think conventional and normal means can make you wake up 'effectively'." Stella snickered, and then her face turns serious. "You better get dressed, bro. If not we are going to miss the study group at 12pm AND theoretical test this afternoon at 2pm." With that said she left and closed the door behind.

Jack immediately stop glaring and look at his wrist watch and found to his horror that it is 11am already. Jack's face immediately pale at this realization.

"HHHOOOOOLLLLYYY SSSSSHHHHIIIITTT!" Jack cries can be heard in the neighborhood, startling passer-bys and tourists alike. At the same time, the Loussier couples at their late 40's were eating their breakfast in the dining room and look up at the cries of their son.

"Another way to start a day routine, don't you think my dear?" The older man spoke out which have his wife started to shook her head in resignation.

"Ahhh….children….sometimes I wish those two will just behave more properly like the others at their age…." Mrs. Loussier spoke and laughed softly.

"Nay….that will put out their unique character which I do not think we should start now, besides that's what makes them special, no matter how bad it is." Mr. Loussier smiled at his wife.

Just then, the topic of their brief conversation appeared to join them for breakfast. Stellar Loussier (1), an 18 year old girl is the eldest daughter of their family, join by her 16 year old younger brother, Jack Loussier who now wears a dark blue t-shirt with a face of a lion in front and is wearing black jeans and brown shoes. Like his sister, he is a Caucasian and has short blonde hair. The two siblings begin to eat their breakfast while exchanging friendly insults between each other and their parents as well. Once they finish eating their breakfast, the siblings quickly grab their backpacks, wear their respective jackets and fasten their belt pouches to their jeans while taking their weapons with them.

"Mum! Dad! We're going!" Jack told them when heading straight for the exit of their room. "Don't forget Mum! We won't be coming home for dinner tonight!" Stellar added.

"Yeah I know! You'll be going out with your friends but I expect you back by midnight!" Mrs. Loussier reminds them which have the sibling laughing and close their door on their way out.

The two siblings quickly reach the other room on their floor which has a sign says TELEPORT ROOM and begin by stepping on the magic circle which it instantly transport them to the ground floor of the building their family is staying with instant of a thought. Then they began running all the way to the nearest Teleportation Center, which has the ability to teleport anywhere in the city but unfortunately cannot use to teleport to another city or continent (that is why the need of airships, airplanes and ships). On the harbor, a Statue of Liberty can be seen there as a symbol of the continual friendship between the allies after the Demon Wars.

"Hey sis! Are you using that bala thing again as your weapon?" Jack asked when they are still racing to the center, noticing the silver case she is carrying.

"It is called bat'leth (2), my dear brother! And yes, I am using it. It may look hard to master it but once you get your heart into it, anything is possible!" Stella said with a triumph.

"Ehhh... no thanks, I'll stick to my trusty bo staff, thank you very much." Jack begins touching his steel staff that was strapped to his back which has several different colored stones attached in its 8 slots after saying that.

"Why do you people have against the bat'leth anyway? I know it is young in terms of existence than the other weapons, but it has been proven in combat against monsters and many people have begun adopting it." Stella inquired.

"Well I did not go against it; it is just that I heard many nasty things about it such as people got to get his head off by it." Jack clarified.

"That is just a stupid rumor and I can't believe you actually believe it! Every people have to be trained in the arts of bat'leth before using it in actual combat by…" Stella was about to begin her lecture when Jack interrupt her. "Save it for later sis! We almost reach the center!" Jack quickly ran faster before she had a chance to give him a scolding for interrupting.

Once they arrived at the Teleportation Center, an old man wearing a magician hood looks up from his desk and smiled when he see the newcomers.

"Ah, Stella and Jack. Welcome. Late as usual, I presume?" The magician asked with a smile on his face.

"Hello Mr. Dan and yes we might be late again no thanks to that idiot here." Stella jerked her thumb at Jack, which raised his hands in defense and glared at Stella. Dan laughed heartily at their exchange.

"Ok, that means you two got well along just fine. Going to the ACADEMIA, Neo New York branch, I presume? Then wait a while, let me open the portal for you…" Saying that, Dan walk to the magic circle and began chanting a spell.

While Dan was doing that, Stella turns and asked Jack "Hey bro, do you remember to bring your materias (3)?"

"Of course, I will never forget these. If not, I wouldn't last a day fighting monsters with brute strength alone. What about you? Don't tell me you forget to bring yours." Jack snickered evilly.

"Don't be stupid! Of course I brought them all the time. Just remind you though, my dear brother." Stella says with a smile on her face.

Jack smiled back and looks at the materia slots on his bo staff, which he remember what the lecturer at the ACADEMIA have said about the history of materias. Found accidentally in the gold mine of Siberia by the miners in the year 1990, these mysterious stones have the power to use magic that is equivalent to a normal magic user which instantly bring great changes, such as normal front line troops now have magic at their disposal, medics can use them to heal wounds and saved even more lives, civilians can use the no encounter materia to avoid meeting monsters while traveling abroad etc. The benefits is enormous, but that is not the only thing the materias have to offer, for there are some materias that can specially summoned monsters to fight by your side such as Ifrit, the spirit of Fire, Shiva the Spirit of Ice, Ramuh the Spirit of Thunder and many more. They come in an abundant so it was never in short supply and it was quite handy to have them.

Then Jack grimaced when he remember it was also the same year the discovery of materias, that his sister's favorite weapon the bat'leth first began to appear. Apparently some people got this crazy idea to adapt this weapon out of some science fiction novel which a certain warrior race uses in close combat. At first it was quite absurd, but the weapon, just as Stella have said, did prove its worth in combat and soon this weapon is used by highly trained fighters and not for the faint hearted.

"Hey Jack, what are you thinking?" Stella voice snapped him out of the trance.

"Huh? No, it's nothing, just thinking about some things." Jack hastily replied.

Before Stella could grill him with questions, Dan has called out to them. "All right kids, the portal is open and please pay your fees." The siblings quickly paid the fees and went in the portal. "Thank you for your patronage, see you again soon!" Dan called out to them before the portal closed.

When the siblings appeared again from the portal, they have arrived at the gate of Neo New York Branch of ACADEMIA. This particular branch was built on the year 2050 and it is located near the outskirts of the city. The branch itself has the size of at least 6 football stadiums, making it one of the largest facilities in Terra beside its main headquarters in Paris and the other branch in Beijing and Tokyo respectively. This branch has 5000 classrooms which has capacity of 30 students each, meaning it can hold 150,000 students plus teaching staff, disciplinary committee, security officers and other staff of 7000 people (Jack always wonder how the hell headquarters managed to fund them and keep the facilities functioning but not too keen find out about it).

The facilities also include five sickbays, six canteens, a large underground car park, a large area for entertainment (sometimes organized by the student committee such as concert), a giant dorm where students from overseas or far places stay, a giant library, a couple of dozen of labs that specialized in magic, alchemy and techno and lastly the one giant training facility which host a lot of monsters caught around the world and place them there so that students can train themselves and get a taste fighting against them (of course they have to be accompanied by senior staff or a training staff to avoid 'accidents').

"Hey! Stella! Jack! You guys finally made it!" The siblings have just passed through the gate and turn to see the owner of the voice that just called them. Selphie Tilmitt (4), a 17 year old girl who happens to be their childhood friend from a nearby neighborhood, has short brown hair that the side of her hair curled up (Jack wonder how she do that, by natural or other means). She was wearing a yellow blouse with miniskirt and has a pair of brown boots, her weapon, the nunchaku, can be seen strapped to her waist. She is kind of cheery and love to talk, and she is also a member of the student committee which is lacking in numbers lately so she has a tendency to try to 'recruit' anyone, even Stellar and Jack.

"Late as ever, but if you guys decide to go punctual all of a sudden, this might be the end of the world." Said a certain African American with a hint that he was just joking when he and four others decide to join with Selphie. The African American that just talk is Bob Seagil (5), a 20 year old Californian who has come a long way to learn fighting skills in ACADEMIA. He is skilled in using katar, making him a close combat expert. He's now wearing clothes that make him look like a ninja from the island nation in the Far East except he is not wearing mask and wears black boots. He has quite a cheerful expression and loves to talk about anything except his family, which everyone respectfully (or fear) to avoid the subject.

Another girl in the group is Raquel Casull (6), 20 years old and she has long black hair that reaches her waist and wore green earrings, wears a purple vest and a pair of long pants with brown boots and lastly a long cape with symbols which protects wearer from physical attack that almost covers her whole. She never uses a weapon but she is definitely excelled in the art of magic. Among the group, she is more like a elder sister that looks out for her younger 'siblings', but sometimes she got absent-minded and klutzy at some time though.

Another male in the group is an Asian boy named Chen Xing Long (Chen is his family name and Xing Long means star dragon in Chinese). 17 years old in age, he was transferred here from the Beijing Branch about a year ago and somehow got himself mixed up with the group now. He wears a long sleeve blue shirt underneath a blue jacket and has dark blue jeans and with black shoes. His long katana is strapped to his back while his short katana sword strapped to his waist. Xing Long is a quiet guy, and only speaks whenever he believes he want to speak, nothing more but those who know him will find out that he is a actually shy (which he denies it) and kind hearted. How he came to this group with such personality happens because Jack is the one who pull him over during a group project and ever since then they have been working together. Like Bob, he never talks about his past.

Like Xing Long, Miyako Kururgi is another 17 years old Asian girl, hailed from the land of the rising sun. She also got transferred here from the Tokyo Branch about a year ago. Her clothes reflect strongly on her cultural influence since she was wearing a white kimono style clothes and blue pants that normally used in dojo and she was wearing slippers as well. Her long black hair is tied as a pony tail and has a white bandana tied on her forehead. Her weapon of choice, the naginata, which she is now carrying on her back. She is one of the most serious, hardworking girl in the group and normally the first to react angrily to anyone slacking off, sometimes chastened everyone who wants to have fun. Other than that, she is a kind hearted girl who will do anything to protect her friends.

"Oh, shut up Bob." Jack said with a mock glare at his friend, who smiled sheepishly back at him. Then a clap from Miyako got everyone's attention. "Now that you two are here, shall we go to the library where the others are waiting? Time is now against us you know."

"Agreed." Everyone turn to the normally quiet Asian teenager. "We only have less than two hours before the test starts, best get moving." Xing Long said in a matter of fact attitude that has Loussier siblings grimaced.

"Ow, Xing Long, you sure know how to drive home a point huh?" Stellar look at him with pained look. "Don't worry Stella, he is just concerned with all of us by saying that, right Xing Long?" Raquel spoke to Xing Long who only nodded in return.

"Ahhh I'm just kidding. So shall we go now?" Stella replied to Raquel which she smiled in return. Everyone then began marching to the library, where it contains various computer labs where students use to find information, group study rooms where students can study in peace and many books that you can see with your eyes. After all, the library section is the biggest of all facility in the Neo New York Branch. Selphie and the others have already booked a study room before the Loussier siblings arrived and they left three people behind to keep watch.

But when Stella and the others arrived, they only saw two in the room, a teenage boy and a girl. The boy is 16 years old Zack Trifield, a master of twin boomerang swords, these swords are short and curved like a boomerang, but they are sharp and can also be used like a boomerang against enemies from afar, which he has strapped them on both side of his waist. Zack has blond, short spiky hair and is an European descendant and he wears a black t-shirt with a orange fur overcoat made from Monster Tigers that lived in the deep mountains of Africa which his father has traveled there and kill some of them with the request of local help. The pants and boots he wore were also made from them as well. At first look, anybody will have thought he is a punk but in reality he is just a good guy but whenever he tried to express never seem to convey the meaning he wanted to deliver, besides he is a kind of guy who is a bit hot headed.

Next to Zack is a 19 years old Diana Gaimen, hailed from Eastern Europe, who actually is a descendant of General James who first discovered the destruction of the demon forces and reveal to the world about it. Diana is a beautiful girl with her shoulder length gold hair (and a killer body to boot) and her intelligence is considered unmatched since rumors speculate she is unbeatable in a field of strategic warfare (which she neither confirmed nor denied) and she is considered a 'goddess' because of her kindness and willingness to help. She wears a gold blouse and a miniskirt and wears high heel boots and she uses Blaster Edge as a weapon which she use to shoot a shuriken out to attack the enemies. Her specialty is the use of healing magic including the power to resurrect and holy power to cleanse the undead. Combined her good looks, body and personality, no wonder she is worshipped by all the males and respected by all females.

"Late again, I presume?" said Zack who is a little bad tempered while waiting tiredly for them to arrive. "Sorry about that. It was his fault that we were late." Stella jerked her thumb to Jack, who promptly stared at her. "Wha…why are you saying this again? I already said I'm sorry!" But Zack has a very strong 'sha chi'(7) and it is directed at Jack who began to wince.

Before an argument is about to break out, an angelic voice began soothing out to calm the situation. "Please you two, I know you guys want to argue but right now it is best to remember that we have more important things to do. Besides arguing is not going to help anyone, so please no fighting, ok?" Diana look at both Zack and Jack with a smile that could melt anyone's hearts.

Both Zack and Jack look at each other blushing then said at the same time, "Ok Diana, you're right about that. Sorry." "It is ok, so shall we study now?" Diana replied. Selphie whispered quietly to Xing Long, "I got a feeling that Diana could be the most dangerous woman in the world if she decides to get angry." Xing Long nodded in agreement.

Just as everybody sits down and began revision when Miyako asked "Hey, where's Robert?" "He said he wants to use the restroom about 15 minutes ago." replied Diana. "Knowing that guy, he probably went to flirt with the female library staffs again." Bob say it with a slap on his head.

"I'll get that idiot, you guys keep on studying." Stella gets up from her seat and left the room before anyone protests. She wandered around the library a while, when in the corner of her eyes, she found the target surrounded by five girls.

The 18 years old Robert (he has a long name but nobody care to remember anyway) is a son of a noble family living in Neo London. He is a handsome guy with short blond hair and wears noble clothes which can be traced to the year 1200. His personality is charming and friendly (which thankfully is different than those arrogant nobles) and cares to help people in earnest ability. His rapier can be found hanging from his waist belt. But unfortunately he tends to get side tracked when it comes to girls and he never seems to refuse them.

Robert is talking to the girls as usual, "As I was saying, we should try to get to know each other better, where we do not want too much distur-.." "How about we get ready for revision before I decided to knock your lights out?" A familiar voice with hint of anger interrupts him, which Robert to wince and turn slowly to see her.

"Hi….Stella, you finally arrived…..I eh just going to come back when I got…" Robert vainly tried to explain to Stella who began to emit dangerous aura.

"Sidetracked and talk to the girls, is that what you trying to say?" Stella finished for him but then she narrowed her eyes. "Then let me 'help' you get back on track!" With that said she immediately grabs the back of his collar and literally pull the noble to the amusement of the girls looking at them.

Yes…..this is a typical normal day for these ten normal teenagers, but the wheels of destiny have begun turning at this very day…..

**Time:Goddess Era 2020 (8)**

**Location:Drogen, Aspiara**

It has been six months since the eight heroes, consists of Ryu Clivestone of the Light Dragon Clan, Nina Windlan from the Wing Clan, Gillaim from the Forest Clan, Karn from the Thieves Clan, Gobi from the Traders Clan, Ox from the Ogre Clan, Mogu from the Mole Clan and Deis the legendary sorceress from ancient times have combined their strength to crush the ambition of Zog and expelled the Goddess of Evil, Myria from their world of Aspiara.

Now that the Dark Dragons no longer threaten the world and peace had been restored, the eight heroes have gone their separate their ways to dedicate themselves in rebuilding their homelands from the devastation, each believing that they would meet again in the future. In the town of Drogen, they are lots of people working around the town, from carrying the boulders to repairing the houses. It was hard work but the people are proud of their achievement and progress. One particular person has an unusually blue hair and a dragon symbol on his forehead is working to repair his house's window when someone called him.

"Ryu! Ryu! Where are you?" Ryu look up to see an old man walking up the path slowly to reach the house. "Ahhh…. There you are Ryu! I was looking for you." The old man pants and sits down to take a breather.

"What is it, grandpa? Do you need me for something?" Ryu asked when he sat down with the old man. The old man quickly took a letter out of his pocket and gave it to Ryu. "Here, this letter just arrived here today and it was addressed to you by Nina Windlan I think."

Ryu's eyes immediately lit up at the mention of Nina's name.

"Nina you say? Thanks grandpa!" He immediately took the letter and went back to his room in his house. His grandmother was just baking some cookies when she saw Ryu went up the stairs and heard his bedroom door closed.

"What just happened, dear? Why is Ryu in his room now?" She ask Ryu's grandfather who just came in. "He had just received a letter from someone very important to him." Granpa told her with a wink. "Ohhh…." Grandma understands the meaning immediately and smile.

While Ryu sat down on his bed, he begins to open the letter and read the following content:

_Dear Ryu,_

_How are you doing? It has been six months since we last see each other and I already began to feel like I really do miss all those time we travel together, especially with you Ryu…_

_Oh! What am I saying? Anyway, the reason I want to write this letter is because I want to ask you to come to Winlan in the near future so you can meet with my parents. I know you have met them before not long after you start your journey and you might be busy rebuilding your hometown but if you have time, please come and visit Windlan. I just want to properly introduce you to them, that's all._

_Hope that day comes when you are here._

_From Nina._

Ryu laugh softly and blush at the same time when he sees the princess attempt to ask him to come visit her, but her parents? Wonder if it is 'that'? Shaking the thought out of his mind, Ryu decide to pay her a surprise visit by starting to journey to Winland tomorrow morning. If all goes well, he should reach Windlan in five days. With that decided, he went out of his room to tell his grandparents of his plan.

Meanwhile in Windlan, an old Wing Clan man is busy tidying up his books on the shelf in the royal castle's library. This old man is Professor Gaist and he is one of the top researchers on analyzing ancient documents from ages old, especially from the time of Goddess War, where many precious documents have been destroy with few surviving records and many others now stored in the library of Winland.

Gaist managed to take a stake of books and begin moving them to another shelf, but he failed to notice a few books lying on the floor that he tripped over them and fell and crashing into another book shelf, resulting in many books falling over the place.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch….I can't believe I actually made a mistake like that…" Gaist muttered when he sit up and look around the mess. "Now I have to clean this up….I need help…" As he stands to pick a book up, his eyes suddenly caught a particular book on the ground. This book is different from all the books he had seen before, as the book cover has some ancient language on it and has a dragon symbol embedded on the front cover.

Gaist then decides to take the book and begin to decipher it by skimming the few pages. After a while, he looks up from the book and rubs his eyes as if he couldn't believe his eyes. But the book is still there and he could not contain his excitement.

"I don't believe this! If my old eyes do not fail me, this old book actually dates back during the Goddess War and it survived till now! I must decipher it, who knows what kind of ancient knowledge it might have!" Excited, Gaist abandoned his cleaning duty and quickly head to his office to further his investigation on the ancient book….

**Time:Goddess Era 2520**

**Location:Hometown, Aspiara**

500 years later in the future, a new evil by the name of DeathEvan attempted to overrun Aspiara with his hordes of demons and using St Eva Church as a cover to suck the powers of prayers from worshippers to increase his strength. But once again, another Ryu and his band of heroes have risen to challenge and defeat this threat. This time, it is consists of Ryu Bateson, a ranger from Hometown and newly discovered Light Dragon Clan, Nina Windia, an exiled princess of the Wing Clan, Katt Chuan of the Woren Clan, Bow Doggy, fellow ranger and a Glassrunner Clan, Rand Marks of the Shell Clan, Sten Legacy, an exiled soldier of the Highlander Clan, Jean Tapeta of the Creeping Clan, Spar Gus of the Grassman Clan and lastly Deis, the same sorceress who helped the previous Ryu in the past.

After a long and dangerous journey, these heroes have discovered the terrible truth about St Eva Church and DeathEvan. They journey through the Gate to Infinity, guarded by none other than Ryu's mother, Valerie Bateson. When Ryu decide to battle the evil demon, she sacrificed her life so he and his companion could enter Infinity. They battle their way there and found other surviving Dragon Clan in Dologany, where they learn about the reason why the Clan disappeared for many years. After that, they travel to the deepest part of Infinity, battling number of demons, faced off against Barubary, second in command of DeathEvan and lastly DeathEvan himself.

The battle was long and hard, but when the heroes combined their strength, they finally defeat them all. In the midst of celebrating their victory, Ryu realized that DeathEvan is not dead but rather sleep to awake another day, therefore he decide to seal the Gate to Infinity like his mother before him without telling his friends. But the Township controlled and powered by Ryu's father, Garner Bateson, is one step ahead of his son and sealed the Gate by landing Township on it, telling his son to live his life to the fullest.

After the battle, some of the heroes went home to rebuild their lives. Rand returning to his home town to carry on the legacy of his late mother, Daisy, Sten returned to Highland to resume his duty as general at the side of his princess, Jean returning to Simafort to resume his royal duties, Spar decide to travel the whole world to find answers to his life questions and lastly about Deis, as suddenly she appear and as suddenly she disappear, last telling her friends she was traveling too. The remain four heroes are rumoured to be living in Township, repairing the damage the landing have caused to buildings.

In the famous Magic School in Hometown, Fiona Alyssa Lennete (9), a female student has been busy researching a certain ancient book which she had discovered from one of the shelves a few days ago. She was deciphering the book with great interest and stop to digest the information.

"Amazing! This book definitely has some sort of interesting spell written on it, and if my translation skill is correct, this spell must be activated by a Dragon Clanner. But Dragon Clan is not easy to find these days….." Fiona closed her eyes and began to think for a few minutes before she open her eyes in realization.

"Oh yeah! If the rumor is true, Nina should be staying with Ryu at Township! I better write a letter to her to ask her to come to Hometown and get to hear her adventures too…Kill two birds with one stone!" Fiona quickly finds her utensils and begin writing the letter……………

----- The two important wheels have finally be set into motion, making the whole thing known as Wheels of Destiny move and begin to accerelate…….-----

Stellar Loussier – I borrowed this name from a certain female character from the anime Gundam Seed Destiny, not her actual character.

bat'leth – A cool Klingon weapon from Star Trek Universe, please go to to see the details.

materias – From the game Final Fantasy 7, you got to love these suckers O

Selphie Tilmitt – A character from Final Fantasy 8, she is one of my favourite characters 

Bob Seagil – The last name belongs to one of Laguna's friend Kiros in FF8, and therefore is not related to this guy in my fic.

Raquel Casull – A character from the anime Scrapped Princess, she really kicks butt in terms of magic and she is absent minded, really.

Sha chi – Meaning murderous intent in Chinese, it's hard to describe when people decide to give an aura that scared the hell out of you…;;;;

Goddess year – See Mary's translation from where it is under pre-BOF1 timeline.

Fiona Alyssa Lennete – A character from the anime series Zoids Chaotic Century and Guardian Force, at one time she is an archeologist looking at ruins.


	3. Chapter 2: Blue Vortex of Destiny

**Breath of Fire: Of Time and Destiny**

**_Chapter Two: Blue Vortex of Destiny_**

**Time:Terra year 2190**

**Location:Neo New York, Terra**

At 6pm at downtown city, a Teleportation Center was seen shining with lights coming out of the windows, indicating a teleportation in progress. After a while, a group of ten people began to file out of the Center, each look relieved and happily talking to each other.

"Finally, the theoretical exams are over! Now we can relax and party!" say Jack with a look of triumph on his face.

"Yeah….to tell you the truth, I prefer to take field exams than taking these writing tests….wonder why this is useful as fighting monsters?" Zack asked with a look of confusion. Miyako shook her head and decide to give her male friend a brief explanation about the importance of knowledge (which Zack mentally cursed himself for saying the question out loud for everyone to hear, especially Miyako).

"I agreed with Jack, now that the tests are over, we should first eat something to celebrate, but where should we go?" Bob asked. Selphie raised her hand to give her opinion.

"How about we go to that European restaurant down the street about five blocks away? The food is great!" Selphie say with great enthusiasm.

"I second that motion too; you guys should try to eat more fine and genuine European delicacy." Robert supported as well.

"But we already gone to that restaurant four days ago, we should try a different one for a change." Xing Long noted his opinion.

"Oh come on, Xing Long! It goes to say that the food there is great and everyone here likes it, right?" Selphie then look at everyone after saying that.

"That may be true, but Xing Long has made a good point too. We should try something different….." Stellar think for a while then she perked up. "I know, how about we go to that Oriental restaurant that just opened 3 months ago? I heard from people that the food is very delicious!"

"Sounds good, might as well take a stroll there, where is it anyway?" Bob inquired with interest. Stellar points to the road down which is exactly an opposite direction from the road leading to the European restaurant, which both Selphie and Robert doesn't look like they approve this.

"Hmmmm….judging by the situation, I think we have two different places and we need to choose one to go and eat….if we argue anymore, it'll be midnight by now…" Diana analyzed and comment on this.

"In that case, how about we all take a vote on which place we should take to have our dinner?" Raquel suggested. "That is what I am about to suggest too. Seems like we have come to the same conclusion." Diana smiled at her friend.

"All right then. You heard the ladies, let's put a vote. Who wants to go to the European restaurant that Selphie mentioned?" Jack called out to his group of friends. Selphie, Diana and Robert all raised their hands.

"Then who wants to go to the Oriental restaurant that my sister suggested?" Jack has a feel that the result is already out but he asked anyway. Xing Long, Miyako, Stella, Bob, Raquel and himself included raised their hands.

"Looks like it is decided, the Oriental restaurant we go. But Zack, why aren't you voting?" Jack asked Zack who did not vote with either.

"Well, I really don't care what kind of food, as long as I can eat." Zack state his reason, which have everyone look him with strange look. "What? Did I say something wrong?"

"You say you will eat anything edible, does that mean you going to eat monster food as well?" Selphie points out what everyone is thinking. Zack was about to respond when his stomach growled. This make everyone laugh while Zack couldn't stop blushing.

"Oh well, I may not be able to eat European food today, but I am going to make sure we're going to eat that in the near future." Selphie vowed with Diana smiling at her. "Yes we will, but for now let us enjoy this together with everyone."

Robert sighed at the situation. "It is a pity we will not be able to enjoy both types of food in our day of 'party', but as long as Stella is here, I wouldn't mind what kind of food we eat." Robert beamed at his own suggestion and put his arm around Stella's shoulder, which she gave him a suspicious look.

"Hey Robert! Get your hands off my sister!" Jack snarled angrily at the noble, which already is winching away from Stella after she pinched him hard on his hand.

"Alright, alright. Enough talk. Let's get to the restaurant before we starved to death here." Bob interrupt before the situation degenerates further and everyone began marching to their destination.

**Time:Goddess Era 2020**

**Location:Windlan, Aspiara**

Nina Windlan, princess of the Wing Clan, is sitting in her room, busy reading her book about magical arts and the various effects each magic might have, then she promptly stop reading and look up sighing. Even though she already posted the letter days ago, she couldn't help thinking about what Ryu thinks when he read the letter. Will he come in a few days' time or weeks? Will he think about meeting her parents seriously? These sorts of questions have begun to plague her mind and she just walk up and lay down on her bed.

"I can't believe I actually went and did it…." Nina thought to herself and blushes as she remembers the contents of the letter which she write down two weeks ago. It is true that she has feelings for Ryu and he has feelings for her too, and it seems her companions knew their feelings too and that Deis, the legendary sorceress from ancient time and one of their companions, have spoke to her before they went their separate ways.

------ (Start flashback)

"So Nina, what are you going to do about that?" Deis have once asked her when they are out of the earshot of their group.

"Do what?" Nina asked and confused about the older woman's question, which seem to irritate her.

"About Ryu, silly! What are you going to do about that? And please don't give me that it-is-the-law-that-forbids-interspecies-marriage type as your reason." Deis said irritating while controlling her voice so the others can't hear. Nina blushed about that.

"Of course not! But it is just that…well…we do not know much about our own feelings to each other…so…." Nina vainly explains which have Deis rolling her eyes.

"Oh come on! Everyone in the group knows you two love each other and how Ryu keep watching out for you, be it in the fight or other things." Deis look at her irritating again, but then suddenly she had a sly grin. "But if you're so hesitant, I should probably take him away from you and make him do a lot of things…."

"You….you can't do that!" Nina immediately shout at her, which Deis quickly cover Nina's mouth up. "Quiet! Are you trying to let him hear us? But at least you respond fast enough for a girl who doesn't know her feelings..." Deis said mischievously at the blushing princess.

"Ok then, here's the plan then. How about you try to invite him to your castle? Let him meet your parents, after all he is a saviour of the world now and he is very handsome so there should be no problem. Who knows, maybe you two might get married within a year or so...just try it, you might got what you bargain for." Deis smiled at Nina and gave her a wink.

------ (End flashback)

Nina groaned when she remember what Deis said at that time but yet she is hopeful that Ryu might come, signifying that he has feelings for her. While she was thinking of all that, somebody knocks at her bedroom door, which she quickly sits up and straighten herself up.

"Come in please." Nina answered, which the door open to reveal a castle maid. "Princess Nina, you have a guest waiting at the lounge. He requested that he wants to meet you." The maid reported to Nina.

Nina felt her heart beating twice as fast now. "Who is this guest?" Nina inquired to the maid which has a smile at her face. "Why, it is Ryu Clivestone from Drogen, your highness." The maid replied, to which Nina immediately stand up and walk to the maid.

"Really? Oh, I mean thank you for telling me about this. I'll be there to receive him personally." After saying that, Nina quickly left in a hurry towards the lounge. The maid smiled to herself. "I'm glad she's back to her old self. Looks like the princess is in love with him, after all. I hope they find happiness in the end." With that said, the maid went about her business when Professor Gaist happens to walk past with a worried look on his face.

"Professor Gaist, is something the matter? You look trouble." The maid asks with concern.

Professor Gaist turns to see her and smile. "Oh it's you, Mary. Well, I had just found an ancient spell written on a book I discovered a few days ago, but it has to be activated by a Dragon Clanner for it to work, so I'm stuck as you can see." He explained it to her.

"A Dragon-Clanner? You mean like Sir Ryu who is here now?" Mary said it out loud.

"That is correct, but I do not thi—Wait a sec! Do you just say Sir Ryu, the hero from Light Dragon Clan is here!" Gaist turned to her in excitement.

"Y-yes, even now the princess is meeting him in the lounge…" Mary says with a surprised look but Gaist cut her off.

"In the lounge, you say! Right, I must go at once!" Saying that, Gaist ran to the direction of the lounge, leaving Mary with a surprised look behind.

Ryu sat down on one of the couches in the lounge, waiting for Nina to come. He was still wearing the same clothes as he have first gone on his journey when his hometown Drogen was burn down by the Dark Dragons Army, from there he met Nina, Gilliam and many other friends he met in the journey who swore to defeat Zog and the Dark Dragons to prevent the tragedy from happening again.

"Since that time, so many things happen than anyone imagined…..Oh Ladon, I wish you were here to see this, Sara…" Ryu sadly remember about her older sister, and then shook his head. "No…Sis would rather scold me for grudging myself about the past, I should look towards the present and the future." Ryu smiled.

"Ryu!" He heard his name called and turn to see a certain Wing Clan girl running towards him and he smiled as he sees it is Nina, the girl he has been waiting for. Just as he had just got up from his seat and ready to greet him, Nina slammed into him and gave him a bear hug.

"Whoa! I know you miss me but I didn't know it was this bad." Ryu said with a small laugh and hugged her back to which Nina's face began to redden.

"Well, it's been six months since we last met so….Anyway I didn't expect to see you so soon, more like I was expecting a letter or something." Nina looked at Ryu with a look of confusion. Ryu then smile mischievously.

"Ever since I received your letter, I decided to go to Winlan the next day. Did I surprise you?" Ryu asked with a look of triumph.

"Yeah, you did surprise me, but I'm glad you decide to come though…" Nina left the words hanging, which both teenagers felt their faces redden.

"Princess! Are you in here?" This made both teenagers to jump away from each other in embarrassment. As that happen at the same time, a wing clan soldier wearing heavy armor and helmet in his late 30's (to Ryu's considerable surprise since Wing Clan soldiers never favor heavy armor due to their hollow bones to allow flight) and a pony-tailed soldier in his mid 20's with a rapier at his waist walked in the lounge. They saw Nina and Ryu with their faces still redden.

"I think we just barged in on the wrong time….." comment the younger soldier.

"Oh, it's Zeke and Raifel (1). What is it?" Nina straightens herself up and asked her two bodyguards.

"Well, since you did not show up for your practice at swordplay, I thought you were goofing off again…but I guess I was wrong this time." Zeke say with an apology look.

"At least we can tell the king that Princess Nina is meeting her important guest, so we won't get angry by the king…" Raifel say with a shrug while Ryu was making a soft laugh.

"You actually try to get out of lessons? Now that is news to me." Ryu laughed again, which Nina promptly hit him on his right arm.

"S-stop that! I-I just forgot it today, that's all!" Nina explained to Ryu, which both Zeke and Raifel then make a cough to grab their attention. Nina then realized she haven't introduced them yet.

"Oh Ryu, I need to introduce you to them, this is Zeke, one of the most experienced soldiers in the Windlan army and my family's bodyguard and this is Raifel, he is the one who teach me about sword fighting. Zeke and Raifel, this is Ryu Clivestone." Nina introduced them to each other. Zeke walk towards to Ryu and raised a hand.

"It is an honor to meet you, Ryu. I am Zeke. I thank you in the bottom of my heart for protecting the princess during your journey against the Dark Dragon Clan." Zeke smiled to Ryu, which Ryu shook his hand in reply.

"The pleasure is mine. But I did not do anything much, Nina is more than capable enough to protect herself and help me in many tight situation." Ryu depreciate himself.

"Even so, I bet she still at least cause some sort of trouble to you somewhere in the journey." Raifel laughed while Nina gave him an angry look.

Before an argument even start, the door of the lounge open up and have everyone turn their heads to see Professor Gaist at the door, panting. Then he straightens himself, strode towards to Ryu and grabs his hand.

"So you must be Sir Ryu I heard of, please come with me this instant." Gaist said as he pulls Ryu towards the door, to the bewildment of everyone, including Ryu.

"Hey wait! Just who are you anyway?" Ryu asked the old researcher, which he turn around apologetically.

"Oh, where are my manners? My name is Gaist, a researcher on ancient documents. You can say I just research and found a book….But for now, I'll explain everything once we get to my office, pronto." With that said, Gaist just pulled poor Ryu away. Nina, Zeke and Raifel look at each other in confusion, then began following them.

**Time: Goddess Era 2520**

**Location:Township, Aspiara**

Katt Chuan was just walking through the entrance towards the largest building in the middle of the town. On her right hand she was carrying a letter addressed to Nina Windia, a friend of hers who now lives with her and two others.

Ever since the other five heroes left the town, the building they all share and lived in has a more empty feeling. Even so, Katt stayed because she doesn't have a home to return to, Ryu stayed because his father is here and so is Yua, Ryu's younger sister and Bow stayed because he managed to get the guild master of the Ranger Guild to approve of him and Ryu to stay in Township as rangers in station and Nina….although she has a home to return to because of her parents forgiveness (her father's sickness has been cured after the destruction of St Eva Church) and they have sent an emissary to ask her to come home. But Nina asked the emissary to relay the message to her parents that she wanted to stay with her friends for a bit longer before going home and the true fact is Nina has fallen in love with Ryu and doesn't want to leave him yet. For that, they have been staying in Township for three months now.

Katt have just walked into the building and ask Niro, their default manager of the building they lived in.

"Hey Niro! Do you know where Nina is? I have a letter addressed to her here." Katt asked and showing him the letter.

"I just saw her went up the stairs, probably in her room, and Katt, please be very quiet. Bow is sleeping in the living room now." Niro cautioned her and she wave her hand as thanks and went on. Sure enough, Bow is sleeping on the couch of the living room. Katt tiptoed her way across and went up the stair without disturbing the sleeping Glassrunner. Once she went up the stairs, she heard voices coming from the corner to the corridor. Katt quietly stick her back to the wall and crept quietly to look from the corner. There she saw Ryu and Nina talking at the corridor outside Nina's room. Katt can see those two are acting like lovers in a private place and sigh to herself.

"Nina is so lucky to have him…." Katt sighed again, but then straighten herself up and called out before turning into a corner. "Hey Nina! You have a letter for you!"

Ryu immediately turn around to face away from Katt's direction, trying to hide his blushing face, while Nina managed to compose herself and smiled at Katt.

"Thank you, Katt. But a letter for me? I wonder who it is from?" She begins to open the letter and read the content. Then she broke into a smile.

"What is it, Nina?" Ryu asked while moving beside her.

"It's a letter from an old friend of mine from the Magic School in Hometown. She said she wanted us to come and show you a book which she had found. It seems to be related to the Dragon Clan." Nina replied to which Ryu instantly feel interested.

"Related to Dragon Clan, huh? I always wanted to know more about them. So shall we all go by tomorrow?" Ryu asked in general to which both Nina and Katt nodded.

"In that case, let's go down and wake Bow up. He needs to hear this." Katt suggested and the three friends then went downstairs. As if in cue, Bow have just woke up from his sleep when they come down the stairs.

"Morning guys, so what's the plan for today?" Bow asked them while stretching his body. Ryu rolled his eyes at his childhood friend.

"Morning? It's already noon now, Bow. If you want to know about plans for tomorrow though…" Ryu then explain Nina's letter to him, which Bow's eyes turn starry.

"Hometown? That means we will be seeing Silvinia again! I haven't talk to her for three months now!" Bow said excitedly.

"Ya me too! We haven't leave town for a long time now and I'm starting to die of boredom around here!" Katt enthusiastic replied, which make her friends smiled at her.

"You guys are not going out without me! Count me in!" Everyone turns to a certain bat-wing (actually it is dragon wing) girl standing near the door.

"Yua…you're going with us tomorrow?" Ryu asked his younger sister with concern in his voice.

"Hey, I never had a chance to explore the town during my er…last 'visit'…and don't give me that look, bro. I really want to explore the place especially the Magic School." Yua defended herself which Ryu raised his hands in defeat.

"All right then. You're in, Yua. All right, let's prepare for our journey tomorrow." With that said, everyone begin to disperse to do their work.

**Time:Goddess Era 2020**

**Location:Winlan, Aspiara**

When Nina and her two bodyguards arrived at Gaist's office, they saw that Ryu was sitting on a nearby chair, looking at awe at the old researcher begin rummaging through the various books on the table. Before anyone could ask though, Gaist finally pulled a book out. "Finally found you!" Then he walked towards Ryu and put the book down on the table. Everyone gather around and stared at the book, which has ancient languages on the cover and has a dragon symbol on the front cover, to Ryu's considerable surprise as he recognized the symbol.

"This symbol….it was the old symbol of the Dragon Empire before Myria's appearance turns it into a civil war!" Nina, Zeke and Raifel all gasped in surprise while Gaist laughed.

"I was right! This book does date back 2000 years ago but I didn't know it was a book of the ancient Dragon Empire though, so how did you know about this? Most of the records about were almost destroyed during the civil war." Gaist asks Ryu about it.

"Once Sara told me about it and show me pictures from the scroll when I was young. I didn't expect to see it here in Windlan." Ryu replied slowly to which Nina touch his hand to comfort him and Ryu appreciate it.

"I see…but this is not the only reason I drag you here. You see here…" Gaist quickly flipped through the pages and found the particular section he wants and points it out for them to see. "As you can see, this is a spell that I really want you to use seems it can only be used by a member of a Dragon Clan, can you please chant it for me?"

"So what kind of spell is this anyway?" Raifel asked. Gaist just shook his head. "I don't know either." That answer caused Zeke to narrow his eyes. "What! How do we know it isn't dangerous! It could be a powerful offensive magic that could blow Windlan off the map!" Zeke shouted.

"Whoa, whoa….easy there, Zeke. I already ascertain this spell is neither offensive nor defensive either, and that got me stumped. So please, will you help this old man fulfill his wish before he pass on?" pleaded Gaist that caused Nina to shook her head.

"Grandpa Gaist, you won't die that soon. But I agreed with him though, I'm curious of what type is this spell is." Nina looked at Ryu confidently. Zeke then sighed in defeat.

"If the princess wishes it, then I have no complains. But I still recommend precautions to be taken necessary." This have everyone nodding their heads and Ryu begin to chant the spell. But when he finished it, a strong gust of wind blew up from nowhere and has everyone shielded themselves from flying books and documents, with Ryu protecting Nina with his body. Once the winds die down, everyone began to pick themselves up.

"Nina, you ok?" Nina nodded which have Ryu released a breath of relief. "Is everyone ok?" Ryu then called out to the others, with Gaist, Zeke and Raifel brushing themselves from the documents. "Yeah, we're ok." Zeke answered grumblingly. "Well that was quite a windy spell, do I say so myself." Gaist amused at the place. "Now I have to clean this place up…"

But then, Raifel did not speak a word and seem to stare at something. "Raifel, you ok?" Nina asked worrying. Raifel pointed his finger in front of him. "I don't think that spell summoned wind only, look."

Everyone look at the direction Raifel pointing, and immediately Zeke and Raifel pull their weapons up, Zeke a bo staff and Raifel a rapier. Ryu make sure that Nina and Gaist are at the safe place in the office and pull his sword out too.

In front of them, a blue vortex appears in the middle of the room…..

**Time:Goddess Era 2520**

**Location:Hometown, Aspiara**

As soon as everyone arrived, Ryu and Bow decide to report to the guild master (which Bow spent his time chatting with Silvinia, who is happy to see him), while Nina went to see Fiona in the Magic School (with both Yua and Katt went to read magic books in the school library).

"Nina! It's been a long time!" Fiona greeted Nina and gave her a hug. Nina smiled at her friend. "I'm glad to see you too, Fiona. So how has it been?" Fiona just waved her hand. "Oh, same old time, you know that. So where is your dragon boyfriend?" Fiona gave her sly smile, which Nina blushes at the question.

"R-ryu is….well…I…" Nina stammered, trying to find an answer, to which Fiona laugh innocently. "I'm sorry, Nina. I didn't mean to tease you. But I see the journey with him really change you." Fiona made her observation comment.

"Huh? Did I really change?" Nina was puzzled by that. "Well, I know of you since you first start living here 10 years ago. You always give out an aura that made people unable to approach you or talk to you, well except for me of course, even though you have been voted 'The Most Beautiful Girl in the Magic School' for two years. Not only that, I always see sadness coming from your eyes and your smile. But now, look at you." Fiona looks at her friend, happily. "You have become more cheerful and your eyes no longer look sad but rather happier. Even your smile shows me that. I'm glad for you since you found others who could help open you up, or is it a certain someone male that help you?"

"I see your observation is still as sharp as ever." Nina compliments her while trying to avoid the subject. Then she frowned. "About that beautiful girl thing….is that true?" She asked Fiona, whom she gave Nina a blank look. "You never noticed that, didn't you?"

Just then, the door to her lab opens and Ryu and his group then filed in the room, to which Fiona welcomed them in (to the relief of Nina not needing to answer any weird questions). Fiona then took out a book in question and put it on the table where everyone can see. The book cover has ancient languages embedded on it, with a dragon symbol to complete it.

"As you all can see, I discovered this book when I was looking around the library. I try to decipher it and found out that it came from the era where the Goddess War began." Fiona said that to which Ryu narrowed his eyes.

"Myria, huh? The one who caused the War of the Dragons 500 years ago and also the one responsible of creating DeathEvan in the first place….." Yua spoke her older brother's thought out. Bow, Katt and Nina have a grim look at their face.

"Yes, I believe so." Fiona quickly said it out loud before the mood in the room degenerates further. "Anyway I didn't call you here for a history lesson." She quickly opens the book and flipped the pages until she find the spell section. "This spell, as I have discover, is an unknown type of magic and can only be weird by a member of a Dragon Clan. So Ryu, what do you think?" Fiona look at Ryu intently.

"Just a question." Katt asked. "If you do not know what type of magic it is, don't you think it is a dangerous spell?" Fiona then smiled.

"Don't worry about it, Katt. The spell doesn't look like an offensive magic type so we shouldn't worry about getting blow up."

"Even so, I suggest we take necessary precaution, buddy. Just in case." Bow suggested to Ryu, which he look at everyone, of all nodded their heads in approval. Ryu then sighed.

"Ok, here goes nothing….." With that, he began chanting the spell on the book….

When gusts of wind blow up from nowhere when he finished chanting, and everyone began to shield themselves from the wind with Ryu cover Nina with his body.

After the wind dies down, everybody begin to climb to their feet. Ryu immediately look at Nina, which nodded her head indicating she is fine. Then Ryu called out to everyone "Is everyone all right?"

"Yeah, we're fine." Yua replied while Katt try to get the papers off her head. Fiona then spoke. "Wow….That was like a tornado blowing by…" As Fiona look around the room, she stop and stare at the particular direction. "What in Ladon's name is that?"

Everyone immediately look at the general direction of where Fiona is looking, then immediately take their battle formation.

In front of them, a blue vortex appears in the middle of the room, doing nothing particular in the moment……

**Time:Terra Year 2190**

**Location:Neo New York, Terra**

"Now that's what I call a superb meal! Delicious and perfect!" said a certain African-American man who is in a good mood. He is not alone in this, all his friends are in similar mood as well, even the poker face Xing Long smile as well.

"I have to admit; the food there is good, just as Stella said." Selphie look at Stella happily.

"Oh come on, stop that Selphie, you embarrassing me." She laughed with a blush on her face. Then she looks at her wrist watch. "Who would thought we would be eating that long, it is 10 o'clock already. We should get to the Teleportation Center and go home."

"Don't worry, Stella. The Center is 24/7 a week. We can go home anytime. How about you and I go to somewhere quiet and have a chat?" Robert then cupped her right hand with his and stared at her eyes. "You don't give up, do you Robert?" Stella stared at him disbelieving.

"GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY SISTER THIS INSTANCE!" Jack warned Robert dangerously and has a few veins popping on his head.

Robert then moves his finger up. "Tsk, tsk. This is a way of the adult, my young friend. You should try and observe."

"THAT'S IT! YOU'RE GOING DOWN!" With that said, Jack and Robert began to fight in a comical scuffle, which Stella and Miyako try to stop them, Zack and Bob were taking bet who will win while the rest of them look at the scene amusingly (they must have seen this stuff happening before and think of it as a 'tradition').

Suddenly Raquel look away from the scene when she felt powerful magic presence in the area, then shouted to her friends. "Everyone! Please listen to me, there's something coming!" Immediately, everyone stop what they doing and looking at her (Robert and Jack still grabbing each other's clothes with a silly look on their face).

"What is it, Raquel? What do you feel?" Diana asks her, which she shook her head. "I do not know. But something is coming. I can feel it." She said that with a serious expression, making it clear to everyone that she is not joking.

Xing Long then suddenly asks a strange question. "Everyone! Can you guys hear anything?" Everyone look at their Chinese friend, dumbfounded.

"Of course we can hear you! Why do you ask that?" Zack answered and look at him disbelieving. But it was Miyako who provided the correct answer.

"Wait. Xing Long's right….there's no echo." Everyone then immediately looks around, and then exhaled their breath deeply. Indeed not just sound, everywhere except themselves are frozen.

"What the hell is going on?" Bob demanded. As if answering his question, a blue vortex suddenly appeared behind them, making everyone jump away by impulse and pull their weapons out.

"I've got a bad feeling about this…." Jack muttered out what everyone is thinking.

The blue vortex makes no move at all, as if waiting for something…………

Zeke and Raifel – Yes, these two characters are from the BOF manga called the Princess of Wings. I never read the books but I have seen the several scans of them when they were hosted in Mieu Sedai page before few years ago. And by reading Mary's translation guide in is found I have a pretty good idea on how to apply this manga to my fics, though subtle different. 


	4. Chapter 3: Wrong place, wrong time

**Breath of Fire: Of Time and Destiny**

**_Chapter Three: Wrong place, wrong time _**

**Time:Terra year 2190**

**Location:Neo New York, Terra**

"NOW what the hell is that?" Bob asked nobody in particular as he ready his katar, as his friends do the same as well as they faced the blue vortex, waiting for whatever it is to emerged from. But after few minutes of tense moment, the vortex just sits there doing nothing.

Everyone began to look at each other in confusion and lower their guard. "What? There's nothing going on and where did this thing come from?" Jack asked in general, hoping one of his friends can answer his question.

"It looks like a portal of some sort, but it is a complete different level from the portals used in the Teleportation Center….I can sense this one is more powerful…" Raquel gave her explanation to her friends.

"More powerful? You mean it can transport people to another continent or something like that?" Selphie put her opinion forward, to which Raquel shakes her head.

"I'm not sure….it could be more powerful than just that….." Raquel then looks at the vortex again.

"This is creepy….very creepy…" Zack muttered to himself.

While everybody is busy discussing what the blue vortex is, Stella put her bat'leth back into the silver case and began looking around. Robert is the first one to notice her.

"Hey Stella, what are you doing?" He asks, which have everyone stop their discussion and look at her. Stella did not answer him, but instead pick up a rock with her free hand and threw it into the vortex.

"Uh… sis? What are you doing?" Jack asked her sister wide-eyed.

"Throwing rocks." Stella's answer is short and simple and she continues to throw more rocks into the vortex. Jack threw his hand up in disbelieve at his sister's action.

"I can see that, sis! But throwing rocks in that thing is not a good thing!" Jack cried out his concern, which her sister just waves him off.

"Just relax, bro…this thing is harmless. Look!" Stella actually walk towards the portal, throwing rocks into the vortex at a close distance, which have her friends flabbergast at her actions.

"Stella, maybe you should stay away from that until we get some expert to see this portal." Miyako called out to Stella, in an attempt to get her away from the blue vortex.

"Don't be so chicken, Miyako. See? It's nothing, guys." Stella turns her back on the vortex and look at her friends with a smile. Unknown to her, the vortex suddenly begin to edge closer to her, which her friends gasped in horror.

"Stella! Run!" Robert shouted to her when he began running towards her. But it was too late, the vortex suck her in before she could even have time to scream. This event has everyone in a shock, but Robert is the first one to recover and charge towards the vortex.

"STELLA!" He cried before he disappears into the vortex. Jack also recovered from his shock and charge towards the vortex without a second thought.

"JACK! NO!" Both Zack and Xing Long tried to grab him but they are too late to stop him as Jack disappears into the vortex.

"GODDAMN IT!" Bob cursed himself and punch his hand on the ground while the girls are trying to take it in everything that happens so far. It was Diana who spoke out and got everyone's attention.

"Everyone, listen. I know this is a lot for all of us to take in, but I have a feeling our time is short. We have two options: one is to jump after them through the portal into the unknown, or two stay here and get help. We better choose quickly or it will be too late." Diana then began looking at her friends, who all look at each other, knowing that Diana has already made her decision then everyone smile at the same time.

"Let's do it!" Bob began to crackle his hands while Zack gives a thumbs up. Both Raquel and Stella also nodded their heads in agreement.

"I have a feeling we are going to be in a lot of trouble for this." Miyako shakes her head, then smile to her friends. "But I have no regrets." Everyone then turn to Xing Long for his answer. Xing Long just sighed and looks at his friends.

"Of all the crazy things that I have been with you guys for one particular year, you think I actually back out of this one?" Everyone smile at his answer.

"All right, let's go!" Bob shouted and all of them begin to jump into the vortex one by one. When Xing Long jump through the vortex last, the vortex begin to shimmer and it then disappear, leaving no evidence of whatsoever behind.

**Time?**

**Location?**

In the darkest of all places, where there is virtually no sun to show its light, it was thunderstorm that took its place; with lightning occasionally hit the barren wasteland below. There a giant castle can be seen sitting on a landscape surrounded by lava, with only a giant drawbridge as the only access point to the castle's entrance. Unholy beasts with wings have been flying around the castle like vultures, waiting for anyone foolishly dares to enter the castle and decimate them.

Inside the castle, where lamps with blue flames provide the only lights to illuminate the dark corridors, a meeting has been taken place in the main room where its purpose can only be described as sinister and evil. This meeting is attended by six figures with black hood covering their bodies and faces and they are here to discuss something that has just happen.

"**_I do not need to say why we need this meeting on a short notice. All of you, including me, have probably felt this magic presence by now and we are here to know why or what it is that may complicate our plans."_**

"_I can only think this magic that powerful can only belong to, it is probably that clan…" _

"**Impossible! That clan is already extinct! We already make sure of it!"**

"_Or have we? This clan after all is a very cunning one….it took us years just to find them and even then they still put a good fight against us…"_

"**And in the end, their whole clan is dead. We should have no fear and do whatever to accomplish our purpose; this magic presence is probably nothing at all."**

"Even so, such power is not easy to ignore. I suggest caution is needed."

"**Caution? With all due respect, our time is now against us and we still do not find what we seek!"**

"**_Enough! This bickering is pointless. Whatever that clan is planning even though they are dead may just be hindrance, but not enough to stop us. Even so, I will have one of my subordinates to investigate this matter immediately. Now to the main agenda, what of the progress of our agents in those eras?"_**

"_They have made progress in locating 'them' due to the banishment of both Myria and DeathEvan from their respective era, but they have trouble finding 'them' because they do not want to alert the destined child in those eras to their activities and have request permission to use the 'resources' available at each era to distract them from their activities."_

"**Why do we go sneaking around and looking for 'them' when we had the power to crush them! I say screw the timeline and kill them!"**

"In case your brain is only for putting up as display and incapable of thinking, I will tell you why. It is one of the tricks left behind by that clan, if we disturb too much in the timeline, what we seek will also vanished or relocated to a different place or time and we really do not have time for that."

"_Besides, this clan also used Myria and DeathEvan's evil auras to mask 'them' perfectly, so it took us a long time to finally realize their plan and search their supposed location in each era. Unfortunately we have to depend on the destined child to banish them so in the end they might detect us if we do our activities, very foolproof I say."_

"_But not foolproof enough. We may not be able to interfere directly, but we can use or corrupt certain individuals in each era to be our unwilling pawns and distract the destined child from noticing us and caused little disturbance in the timeline."_

"**But wouldn't the destined child suspect something of miss is going on if we do that?"**

"_Of course, you can count on them to suspect something. They are not idiots and will try to find out what is going on. But by the time they do that, we will be long gone, with 'them' safely tucked in our hands."_

"**_Is there anyone in this meeting wish to speak out against such idea? No? Then it is decided. The agents have the permission to use the available 'resources' in each era to complete their tasks. We will complete this mission for our Emperor and his great vision realized. This meeting is adjourned."_**

With that said, the blue flames that illuminate the meeting dimmed out.

**Time:Goddess Era 2020**

**Location:Windlan, Aspiara**

In front of the blue vortex, Ryu, Zeke and Raifel prepare their weapons and stand vigilant in case something comes out of it while Nina and Gaist took cover in the far end of the room. Nina cursed herself for not having a rapier with her and therefore cannot fight beside Ryu and the others against whatever it is that may come out (though Ryu and the other two have to avoid getting hit by rocks spit out by the vortex so far).

At just this moment, the vortex have spit out a girl, who was screaming and crash right onto Ryu, making him fall on the ground with her. Both Zeke and Raifel quickly went to his side to see if Ryu was okay when the vortex spit 4 more people out, crashing into them as well. After the dust subsided, Ryu, Zeke and Raifel were being piled along with five people of strange clothing. When Nina flew over to see whether they are all ok, Gaist then spoke out in astonishment.

"Look! The portal!" Ryu, Zeke and Raifel managed to get out of the pile of bodies to see it happen. The blue vortex shimmer and then it disappear, which has everyone confounded. Ryu then look down at the five 'visitors' that now lay unconscious on the ground, and discovered there were three girls and two boys, all wearing strange clothing and have weapons of their own except the girl with a cape. The two boys consists of a strong, black guy (Ryu think if Karn grows up, this might be him) and another one dressed like the one that the king of Camlon (Ryu then wonder if he is a king or something). The three girls consists of a girl with capes, a blond-hair girl with a silver case and the last girl has the strangest clothing he ever see and has a spear.

"Ryu, are you ok?" Ryu snapped out of his thought and look at the concerned Nina with a smile. "Don't worry, Nina. I'm fine. But I believe our visitors here need some medical attention." Ryu pointedly looking at the unconscious group on the ground.

"I'll take a look at them; maybe my healing magic can help." Nina then sat down and begin to chant when Zeke stop her.

"Wait! Princess, I do not mean to be rude, but we do not know these people and they may be hostile. It will be safer if we first put them in prison and confiscate their weapons for safety precaution." Zeke advised with Raifel nodding his head. "I agreed with Zeke, though I don't like it but I guess safety first is more important."

Nina frowned at her bodyguards' suggestion but she lowered her head, knowing they were having a point as well. "I-I see….." But Ryu shakes his head. "No, I don't think they are hostile at all." This answer has everyone look at him in surprise.

"What makes you think so, Sir Ryu?" Gaist asked. Ryu just shook his head in response.

"I don't know……I just had a feeling that these guys are not hostile, that's all…"

"Ryu's feelings are always right in the end and if Ryu says they are ok, then I trust him as well." Nina smiled with confidence.

Zeke sighed while Raifel put a hand on Zeke's shoulder, laughing softly. "Well Zeke? Now that the princess said so, we might as well trust their judgment." Zeke finally nodded his head in agreement.

"All right then…if the princess say so, then I have no complains. But if these people decide to attack when they wake up, I will have no choice but take necessary action."

"Thank you Zeke, Raifel. Now let us get some help to move them to infirmary." Nina suggested to which Raifel nodded and went out to get some guards. While Nina tended to the unconscious 'visitors' with help from Zeke and Ryu, Gaist then went on to find the ancient book and began to study the book.

"While you young ones do just that, I'm going to examine this for a while…I'll tell you guys when I find something, ok?" Gaist asked them, where everyone nodded their heads in agreement.

**Time:Goddess Era 2520**

**Location:Hometown, Aspiara**

Ryu and his friends were preparing themselves in front of the blue vortex, weapons at the ready. So far, nothing strange has happen since the blue vortex appeared except it has been spiting out rocks, which have everyone doing the best they can to avoid getting hit.

At this very moment, the vortex decides to spit out a male figure, which he was screaming and later crashing onto poor Bow. Just as the others turn to see their friend, four more figures came flying out of the vortex, two of them crash onto Ryu and two more on top of already flatten Bow, whom he yelp in pain. This has all the remaining girls staring, who did not expect such a turn of events. Then, Yua gasped in surprised and pointed her finger in the direction of the vortex.

"Everyone! Look! The vortex…." She didn't finish the sentence and everyone (including Ryu and Bow who managed to get themselves out from the pile of bodies) look at the vortex. The vortex start to shimmer for a few second and then it was gone, leaving no trace of it. Everyone felt dumbfounded about this and they start to look at the unconscious figures lying prone on the ground. They found that the group is consists of three boys and two girls, all wearing strange clothing and have weapons as well. The first boy has a bo staff strapped to his back (with Katt having great interest since she never see other fighters using it beside her), the second one has a sword strapped to his back as well (which Ryu think whether this guy is a good swordsman or not) and the third one has two short swords strapped to his waist (both Yua and Bow begin wondering if he is a thief). The other two girls also has strange weapons as well, with one of them has two sticks connected with a chain strapped to her back while the other one have some sort of launcher type fastened on her right hand.

"Just who are these people?" Nina shyly asks her friends. Ryu noted that Nina may have become more open because of the journey they had together in the past, but she still have trouble speaking to total strangers. Knowing one day she could overcome her shyness, Ryu then speak what he thinks is right.

"We'll find out later. First these guys need medical attention. Fiona, is there an infirmary in the School?" Ryu asks her, who nodded her head in response. "We have an infirmary here and the doctor in charge here, Dr Joan, is an expert in healing. I think that will be no problem fixing them up." Ryu nodded to her and proceed to carry one of the boys.

"Ehhh…..wait, brother! Don't you think the possibility that these guys will attack us when they wake up?" Yua asks with concern. But Ryu shook his head.

"I don't think so….I believe these guys are not hostiles…." This caught the attention of all his friends.

"Why do you say that, Ryu? How can you be so sure?" Katt asked with curiosity.

"I don't know how to describe it……but I just had this feeling that they are not hostile…..that's all….." Ryu left the words hanging.

"Ryu is always right about these things. So I trust him when he says these people are good people." Nina added her support to Ryu.

"Well then, if buddy say so, then I will say I trust his instincts. Now then should we carry them to the infirmary?" Bow gestured to their 'guests' and everyone nodded their heads as they begin carrying them to the infirmary.

**Time:Goddess Era 2020**

**Location:Windlan, Aspiara**

The doctor have just came out of the infirmary, which the door is guarded by 2 Wing Clan soldiers, and went to talk to Ryu, Nina, Zeke and Raifel, who were waiting at the corridor.

"So, how are they, doctor?" Nina asks first. The doctor then smile to the princess.

"Don't worry about them, princess. Except for some minor concussion, they are basically just fine. They should be waking up anytime soon." Nina and the others felt relief at the news. Nina then thanked the doctor and she and the others proceed through the door to the infirmary.

And just as predicted by the doctor, one of the girls from the group that laid on their individual beds in infirmary have shown signs of regaining consciousness. Zeke looked to Raifel, who nodded his head and begin to stand guard near the door while Nina and Ryu went to converse with the girl.

The girl finally sat up, massaging her forehead while talking to herself. "Great….looks like I just done something stupid…..everybody is going to be piss….." Ryu and Nina look at each other first, then Nina decide to talk first.

"Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine….I met things much worse tha……huh?" The girl finally looks up to see who was speaking and she has a surprised look when she looks at them.

"Errrrr……hello there?" The girl finally spoke after a while of scrutinizing them.

"I guess it was a surprise for you and you have a lot of questions to ask, but first I believe an introduction is needed here. My name is Ryu Clivestone from Drogen." Ryu responded with a bow.

"I am Nina Windlan, princess of the Wing Clan and you are now in the infirmary because you have been unconscious since you all came here." Nina explains to the girl.

The girl, who has been staring at Ryu and Nina for some time, managed to recompose herself. "Well, I'm Stella, Stellar Loussier from Neo New York of the Confederation of New Nation." This have both Ryu and Nina (including Raifel and Zeke at the door) stared at her blankly.

"Uhhh….Neo what?" Ryu said with a dumbfounded expression. This caused Stella beginning to scratch her head.

"Wait…don't tell me….This got to be some sort of joke going on……" Stella began mumbling to herself.

Before anyone could say a word, another groan caught everyone's attention and they turn to see the other four have begun to regain consciousness. Stella gasped in surprise to see her friends for the first time.

"Robert!" She cried out and jumped off her bed and raced to his side, with Ryu and Nina coming from behind. Stella also looked at the other three at their beds. "Bob, Miyako and Raquel are here too….." Stella whispered to herself when Robert opens his eyes.

"Hey Stella, you look like you're in one piece. I'm glad you're okay." He smiled when he saw Stella by his side. "You always tend to get in trouble, especially last time when we had a run in with those Tyrano…" Stella blushed at his last comment.

"Cut the crap, will ya? That was two months ago, and why are you here? Do you…." Stella left the words hanging, with her still redden. Robert felt himself sheepish when he sees her blushing face. "Stella, there's no way I could be standing there doing nothing so I just charged in without thinking…." He explained solemnly.

Just then, Ryu decide to cough to catch their attention (though he was reluctant to spoil the mood going on). This have Stella blush madly and quickly punch Robert in the stomach, making him winch in pain. Both Ryu and Nina have a big sweat drop on their heads when they see this. Bob, Miyako and Raquel all woke up at this moment and began to survey their surroundings.

"What the….where is this place? Do we hit our head or something?" Miyako spoke with a disbelieving face, wondering whether she is dreaming or not.

"Wow…..I must have drink too much wine…..I could see people with wings unless I'm hallucinating…..we'll not dead, are we?" Bob attempted to joke about this to no avail. Raquel just sits on her bed, surveying her surroundings and the people without any comment. Stella turns to Ryu and Nina.

"Ryu, Nina. Will you guys give us some time to regroup ourselves?" Stella asked apologetically. Ryu and Nina nodded their heads and step back to the door where Zeke and Raifel are standing guard, who are all amused at the whole situation. They watch Stella talking to her friends who are now gathered around her as she tried to calm them down (especially Miyako, who pratically decides to strangle her for her stunt near the portal). After a while, Stella and the others then finally walk towards Ryu's direction.

"Sorry for waiting, we've got to sort some issues up a bit. But now let us all introduce ourselves. You guys know me already, but I'll say it again. I'm Stellar Loussier." She said apologetically while rubbing her sore neck thanks to Miyako.

"Yo! I'm Bob Seagil, nice to meet you!" He gave them a thumbs up as his way of saying hello.

"Miyako Kururugi at your service." She bowed her head as respect. Nina then raised her eyebrow.

"That is an unusual name…..I never heard such a name before." Nina spoke out, which have Miyako laughing nervously.

"I have a feeling you might say that, so I'm not surprised."

"My name is Raquel Casull. Pleased to meet you." She smiled at them.

"Friends called me Robert, and you can call me that as well." He gave them a wink, then he proceed to cup Nina's hand who gave him a skeptical look. "Hey, your name's Nina right? How about you and I go out on a date? Just the two of us….." Robert attempts to charm Nina, which infuriated Ryu and have Bob shaking his head.

"Let go of her hand this instant, buster! Or I'll send you swimming with the fish!" Stella threatened Robert with a glare enough to send an undead back to its grave. Robert winced at her tone and he slowly releases Nina's hand (to the relief to Nina).

"I can't help it….whenever I see a beautiful girl, I tend to lose control of myself and ask them for a date…"

"Then start control yourself or I'll make it for you….." Stella glared at him dangerous and he immediately salute to her.

"Yes, Madam!"

Ryu is secretly glad that Stella is the one who stop Robert from flirting with Nina. If not, things are not going to be very pleasant in the end. Shaking his head, Ryu then spoke to the group.

"Well then, let me introduce myself again. My name is Ryu Clivestone from Drogen." Ryu bowed to them modestly.

"I'm Nina Windlan, princess of Wing Clan and you are now in the castle's infirmary. This is Zeke and Raifel, my family's bodyguards." She gestured to them near the door, who nodded their heads in response.

"Wait…..did you said you are a princess?" Robert said, wide-eyed. Nina nodded her head with a smile. Robert then tapped his head in a panic. "Oh no…..oh no….."

"Dude, this goes to show you have to know the girl before you date them or the consequences…..could be fatal." Bob said to his friend dryly while Raquel giggles at the remark.

"Don't worry. I won't punish you for that incident but please try not to do that again." Nina still has that smile on her face. Robert then released his breath with relief (and of course disappointed at the same time).

"Now that we have introduced ourselves, I can say for everybody that we have a lot of questions to ask you guys." Miyako immediately gets to the main point, to which Ryu nodded.

"I know what you mean. But ask away any questions, we'll try to answer the best we can and besides it is my fault that you guys are here." Ryu said apologetically, which Stella and the others look at him.

"What do you mean, your fault?" Stella asks with a confused look.

Nina then proceed to tell them about an ancient book that Professor Gaist found, how Ryu chanted the particular spell in the book, the appearance of the blue vortex and how they got here.

"Hey, wait a sec!" Miyako asked when Nina finished the story. "You said there's only five of us that came through the vortex, right?" Nina nodded again, this time it is Nina and her friends who are confused.

"She's right! What happen to Jack and the others? I know Jack jump in after Robert, and we all decided to jump in the vortex together! They should be here with us." Bob clarified it to Ryu and the others, who shook their heads.

"I'm sorry…but you guys are the only ones who emerged from the portal…"Ryu said sadly. Upon hearing that, Stella suddenly turn around from the others, look around, saw her silver case and bag on the table along with other weapons, strode towards and begin to fasten her pouch. Everyone look at her in surprise.

"Uhhhh…..Stella? What are you doing?" Robert asks, though he has a bad feeling of what she is going to say.

"Easy…..we go and find Jack and the others. They might have fallen somewhere from another vortex and they might need our help." With that, she wear her jacket and begin moving towards the door.

Miyako immediately stop her by blocking her way. "Stella, I know how you feel. Damn, even I feel frustrated and want to find them myself but rushing out is not going to help, especially we do not even know where they are!" Miyako told her in an exasperated manner.

"My brother and our friends are out there somewhere! I'm not going to sit here, doing nothing while they could be in danger!" Stella shouted to her friend, then promptly shut herself up. "Oh! I'm sorry, Miyako. I can't help but think this could be my fault that this all happen…" she apologize. Miyako then shook her head and smiled to her friend.

"No need to apologize. What already happens is in the past and we all choose to do this because of our own free will."

"Miyako's right! We choose to do this, and besides in the past we promised ourselves that we stick together, no matter what happens." Bob smiled confidently at Stella.

"Besides you should trust your brother and the others. They are skilled fighters and have gone through the most dangerous situation with us couple of times, besides Diana's with them, they are in good hands." Robert smiled to her reassuringly, with Raquel nodded her head in agreement.

"Thank you, guys." Stella smiled brightly to her friends.

Ryu and Nina, who have witnessed this, remembered their journey with their friends together and knew Stella and the others have been through a lot to have this bond.

"If you guys give me the description of your friends, I will be able to do everything in my power to help and search for them in this kingdom. If they are found, I will inform you." Nina offered her assistance to them, which Stella gladly accepted.

"Thanks Nina. We owe you one."

"Looks like we do not have to worry about them being hostile, right Zeke?" Raifel looks up to his friend and smiles. Zeke smiles as well.

"I guess that's twice in a row for me now. These people may be interesting as well."

"Now that it is over, I believe I should ask a question we all be wondering about. Why do you people have wings?" Raquel asks with a smile. Nina, Zeke and Raifel all gave her the blank look.

"Now that you say it, I'm kinda wondering about that as well." Stella said that as well, with the other three nodding their heads.

Ryu sighed and knew this is going to be one long day……

-----

Somewhere in the south sea, a submerged castle which has not been discovered for many millennia, lies dormant on the sea floor. At the main room where it is not flooded with water, some kind of seal can be seen glowing on the doors and the surrounding wall, as if keeping something from waking up. Then a black portal open up in the middle of a room, with a man wearing a purple hood emerged from it. He begins to examine the seal on the door, then chuckled.

"So this is the seal that Myria used to keep them sleeping. But now that the eight heroes defeated her, the seal has weaken that eventually it will be gone even without any help though it take years….oh well, might as well do it."

The mystery hooded man then begin to chant a spell, then hurl it like a ball at the seal. The seal resisted for a while, but it soon disappeared from the door and the surrounding wall. Then the castle began to shake.

"Now let the mayhem begins!" The purple hooded man then laughs maniacally then walking back into the portal and gone. (1)

(1) Since the Princess of Wings, judging from the translation Mary made in that the Ice Dragon Clan awake by themselves, I decide to modify it into somebody decide to help them wake up in this fic.:P


	5. Chapter 4: Meeting new friends

**Breath of Fire: Of Time and Destiny**

**_Chapter Four: Meeting new friends and trouble brewing_**

**Time:Goddess Era 2520**

**Location:Hometown, Aspiara**

Dr Joan, the chief doctor in charge of the Magic School's infirmary, sighed as she has just finish writing her medical report on the table. She turns to look at her patients now lying on their individual beds, yet to be conscious. Imagine her surprise when she saw Fiona and Nina, along with their friends, carrying these people in strange clothing for medical attention. From what she heard, these people seem to come from a portal which Ryu had opened and Fiona has a part on it, now everyone in the school has been talking about this particular incident ever since.

Dr Joan sighed, having been the school's doctor for ten years and seen her fair share of 'odd things', but never humans coming from another world or wherever they come from. Just as she was thinking, Ryu and the others (minus Fiona) just came in.

"So, Dr Joan. How are they now?" Nina asked.

"Don't worry about them. They just got a minor concussion and I already heal them. They should wake in a moment's time." Joan smiled to her, then she look at the clock on the wall.

"And what timing you guys come! I need to go make my rounds around the town now, so can you guys watch over them for a while?" Joan requested to which everyone nodded their heads. Just as Joan takes her bag and began to leave through the door, she turns around as if she forgot something.

"Oh yeah! Where is Fiona now? Isn't she with you guys?" She asked them.

"Well, you know the whole incident with the portal, right? She decided to go and report this to Headmaster Yoji……." Nina left the sentence unfinished, making Joan wondered if Fiona is going to be ok.

"I see……hopefully she comes out alright. Anyway I'll be off now. See ya!" With that, Joan left, leaving Ryu and the others to look after their 'guests'.

"Uhhh…..how long are we going to wait for them to wake up?" Katt is the first to spoke since Joan left.

"But Katt, Joan just left a few minutes ago and now you are complaining? I thought you are more patient than that." Bow looks bewildered at his impatient feline friend.

"I know, I know! But it's just that waiting for them to wake up seems boring….I've got to do something…." Katt began to look around until she laid her eyes on the packs and weapons that were put on the table. "I might as well take a look at their packs and see what they have inside." Katt snickered as she walks towards the table, only to have her way block by Ryu.

"Katt, you're not thinking of rummaging their stuff without permission." This is neither request nor demand and Katt knew this.

"Don't worry too much, Ryu. I just want to see what's inside their packs….." But Ryu shook his head and folded his arms. "No, Katt. Rummaging through people's packs without permission is not right, even if they are strangers." Just then they heard something from behind Ryu and they look. To Ryu's horror, it is Yua who begins to rummaging one of the bags, immediately Katt quickly walk past Ryu and join Yua.

"Yua! Katt!"

The two girls ignored Ryu and begin to take out a book from the bag. "Hmmm…..what is this? A diary by Jack Loussier…." Yua read out the name imprinted on the front cover of the book. "Must be a guy's name….but I wonder which guy this name belongs to?" Katt then glanced at the three boys lying on their respective beds, then she shakes her head and proceed to rummage the bag and finally take out a silver colored box-like thing.

"Hello….what is this?" Katt spoke with a look of awe at the thing. She then proceeds to touch some sort of switch on it, which have its 'eye' stick out, surprising Katt and Yua. Out of curiosity, she turns the 'box' around and sees the 'eye', while her thumb unwary push down a button, giving out a bright light and Katt a surprise cry, dropping the thing on the table.

Ryu (shaking his head the whole time) and the others, who have been amused by their actions, quickly rush to Katt's side. "Katt! You ok?" Yua ask with a look of concern, abandoning her quest to explore the bag.

"Arrrggghhh……where did that light come from? I can't see a thing…." Katt muttered while rubbing her eyes. Nina then expressed her worry to her feline friend.

"Katt? You're not blind, aren't you?"

Katt begin to blink her eyes for a while. "Wait, I think I can see now, though a little spots going on…..I think I'll go out for a while." Before anyone can say anything, she swiftly left the room.

"Ryu, why don't you all go check Katt out or do other stuff? I'll stay here and look out for our guests." Nina volunteered; to which Ryu immediately felt concern for her.

"Nina, you're not thinking of staying alone with them, are you?" Ryu did not hide his concern in his voice, which Nina smiled to him, secretly happy that he cares for her. "Ryu, don't worry. I can take care of myself." With that, she kissed him on the cheek, causing Ryu to blush and both Bow and Yua just shrugged at the scene.

"Just be careful, Nina." Ryu, Bow and Yua then left the infirmary. Nina then picks a chair to sit, watching at the mysterious guests sleeping soundly.

A few minutes later, a groan from one of the group caught Nina's attention as she saw the boy with blond hair begin to sit up, rubbing his forehead. "Owwww….I felt like a stampede have just run over me……"

"Are you okay?" Nina ask him timidly, to which the boy stop rubbing his forehead and look up to her. He looks surprised to see her but he later smiled sheepishly. "Yeah….I'm think I'm ok except for a headache. So, where am I?"

"You're in the infirmary of the Magic School in Hometown. You and your friends have been unconscious for some time now." The boy, upon hearing her explanation, immediately looks around and saw his friends yet to regain consciousness. "Whoa! The others are here too….." Then he saw the mess on the table. "Hey! Who's been touching my bag?"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Loussier. But one of my friends is so curious that she rummaged your bag. Don't worry though, she didn't take anything." Nina look apologetically to him while vividly remember Yua speaking out the name from his diary.

"Just call me Jack. No harm done though consider we are in an unfamiliar territory." He gave her a thumbs up, then he ask her. "Just one thing though, why do you have black wings?"

This question seems to pained her and she looks away from Jack with a hurt expression. Jack, seeing this, quickly recognized he may have offended her.

"Ooops! Sorry! I didn't mean to ask anything strange! I just ask because from where we come from, we do not have people with wings. A-and personally I think that black wings you have is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen." He quickly apologized and blushes at the same time.

"Jack, thank you." Nina smiled in appreciation of his concern. Then she stands up and begins to leave the room. "I'll go get my friends and maybe we could answer the questions you have in your mind, just stay here." Jack nodded to her as she closed the door behind her.

After she left, more groans can be heard and Jack saw his other friends began to stir, with Xing Long getting out of the bed first. "Great, this is the worst headache I ever had. I even begin to see that girl just left have wings on her back."

"It's not a hallucination, pal. It's real because I saw it too." Xing Long looks at Jack who is coming to him. "Jack, I thought I have seen everything from all the crazy stuff we gone through in one short year. But I see this is by far the craziest thing in my life." Xing Long chuckled which Jack raised his hands in defense. "What? Is today is Blame-Jack day? But seriously, I think we need to piece together what has happened so far and how we got here." As he was saying that, Diana, Selphie and Zack also came towards them.

"I agreed with Jack. It is wise that we keep calm and assess the situation thoroughly. First, does anybody remember what happen when we jump into that portal?" Diana ask around, which everybody shakes their head.

"Nope. Not a thing. I only remember after we jump in, next time I know is when I wake up and now talking with you." Selphie added.

"Speaking of which…..you two were talking about a girl with wings…..can you clarify what you guys just said?" Zack look at his fellow males with suspicion.

Before anyone could answer that, the door opens and a group of people just came in to the room. Jack and his friends look at their newcomers wide-eyed in surprise. The group consists of a blue-haired human with a sword strapped to his back and a short dagger strapped at his left leg, a girl with black wings with dark blue clothing, a short, plump dog man with a crossbow on his back, a blue-haired girl with bat-like wings and a cat girl carrying a bo staff.

"I see all of you have awake, I'm glad. I'm Ryu Bateson, a member of Ranger's Guild." The blue-haired teen spoke first with a smile.

"I'm Nina Windia, nice to meet you." The black-wing girl spoke shyly.

"Yua Bateson, at your service!" The bat wing girl cried with her fist in the air.

"I'm Bow Doggy, a fellow ranger as well." The dog man uses his trademark smile at them.

"My name is Katt Chuan, great to see you guys! So what's your name?" the cat girl asks enthusiastically. At first, Jack and the others just stay quiet; their surprised look still plastered on their face. Katt scratched her head, annoyed that they haven't said anything. "HEY! Say something, will ya?" She shouted in anger, which has everyone in the room startled.

"Oh, I'm sorry. But it is just that we never have dog man, cat girl and girls with wings from where we come from, so we are quite surprised. Please forgive us." Jack, the first in the group to recover, apologized to the fuming Katt and offers his hand as friendship.

Katt immediately smiled, her anger forgotten and began shaking his hand (to the surprise of Jack and his friends about her change in attitude). "Well, apologies accepted. But you really don't have our kind from where you come from? I can't imagine that."

"I guess as much. Oh, my name is Jack Loussier. Nice to meet you." He smiled at Katt, who gawked at him. "Jack…so you're the owner of the bag…." Katt let it slip out of her mouth. "So you're the one who rummage my bag that Nina's talking about." Jack still has that smile on his face, which Katt felt her cheeks redden.

'He is so cute…I wonder if he is taken or not…..' Katt thought as she stared at his emerald eyes. 'Now that I look at her closely, she is quite cute….' Jack observed her carefully.

"Ahem."

That brought both of them out of their thoughts and look at Xing Long who make the coughing sound. "I hate to spoil your mood but can you guys do that later, preferably privately? It's getting a lot 'hotter' lately…" Xing Long spoke with a smirk on his face.

"Arrrrghhhhh!" Both Katt and Jack quickly turn their backs from everybody to shield their redden faces. Ryu and Bow laughed boisterously at the cute scene while Yua sighed and shrugged at the same time. Nina meanwhile smile softly, knowing what is to come for her feline friend. On the other hand, Selphie is scolding Xing Long for spoiling the mood while Diana is making a knowing look at both blushing teenagers.

"Now that is taking care off, it's time to resume our introduction. My name is Diana Gaimen, I am pleased to meet you." She spoke after the laughter subsided.

"Toohoo! I'm Selphie Tilmitt. Nice to meet you guys!" Selphie waved her hands.

"The name's Chen Xing Long. Just call me Xing Long." Xing Long spoke with more subtle voice, to which Ryu and his friends seem surprised to hear.

"Xing Long? That is quite an unusual name." Ryu admitted. "For all the years I have been wandering the world, this is the first time I heard such name too." Yua added as well.

"I've got a feeling you might say that…." Xing Long just breathes out at that remark and turn to his male friend. "Hey Zack, introduce yourself, will…" Xing Long stopped when he sees him.

Zack seem to be in a trance, staring at the general direction of Ryu and his group, but unbeknown to anyone, he was staring at Nina alone.

'This is the most beautiful girl I ever see…….Nina Windia, huh…..a beautiful name too….'

Xing Long looks at Selphie and Diana, who shrugged at him as well. Then Selphie walk towards Zack and kick him on the leg, making him yelp in pain and broke out of his trance.

"Hey Zack! Stop staring like an idiot; it's rude to do that! Now go and introduce yourself." Selphie scolded. Zack quickly regain his posture and scratch his head sheepishly.

"S-sorry, ummmm…….I-I am Zack Trifield…p-pleased to meet you!" The stammering reply is a shock to Jack (who managed to recover from his embarrassment) and the others since this is the first time they see him act like that. "Hey pal, you okay?" Jack asked his friend who wave him off. "I'm fine. I'm fine…." Jack gave him a skeptical look, not convince of his answer. Ryu and his friends were quite amused of the whole situation.

"Now that is over, will you mind if I ask you guys where you come from?" Ryu decide to ask them for the sake of getting out of this awkward mood that has been developing.

"We came from Neo New York of the Alliance of Free Nations." Jack reply immediately to Ryu's question. That earns him a blank look from Ryu and the others.

"Ehhhh…….never mind….We'll explain in due time…and speaking of which, why are you guys here? Don't tell me you guys followed us through the portal!" Jack immediately asked the other four.

"Well, somebody have to take care of you, rushing off like that." Selphie said with a mock anger expression, then she laughed at his sour expression.

"You siblings tend to give us nothing but headaches and trouble. Hopefully you understand we come with you through the portal because we want to be there to make sure we pull your ass out of your troubles." Xing Long tried to speak with a displeasure tone, but his grin on his face betrayed his true intention.

"Besides, we can't let you guys get all the fun and glory by yourself. We all stick together through all the crazy stuff we've been through, and no way are we going to back out of this." Zack added with a grin of his own as well.

"In other words, we choose this path even the other path look safer. Remember what we promised before in the past? We all stick together, no matter what happens." Diana smiled at her friends.

"Man….this is embarrassing! But thanks anyway guys…I owe you one." Jack then hi-five with everyone.

Having seen this, Ryu and the others smiled with each other, knowing full well the meaning of bond and friendship, now they seeing the same thing on these five friends. Jack then walks towards Ryu with an apologetic manner while the other four began picking up their gears and packs from the table.

"Sorry for you guys to see such an embarrassing display and sorry again for making you guys wait."

"That's ok. We all understand how you guys feel. So what are you guys going to do?" Ryu asked. Jack then scratched his head for a while.

"First, we get our other friends from the other room who followed us here. Second, we find our way home by finding the reason of the portal existence. Simple as that for now." He grinned back to them, then frowned when he see Ryu and the others look pale. "Hey! Why the long face all of a sudden?"

"Buddy….about your first plan, there are no other people except you and the other four. And about your second plan, Ryu's the one who open that vortex…." Bow replied for his friend sadly.

"WHAT! No others? And it's that true?" Jack look at Ryu with an astonished look while Selphie and the others rendezvous with them.

Then it was Nina who explained the whole situation to them, starting from the finding of the ancient book, Ryu chanted the spell, vortex open and lastly Jack and his friends' entrance.

"…..that is all that happen." Nina finished explaining. "Sorry about that…." Ryu apologized to Jack, who put his hand on his shoulder. "Hey, it's not your fault. Nobody could see it coming." Then Jack sighed. "Can't believe Stella and the others are not here…." That last sentence has Katt dropping her cat ears. 'So he was taken….'

Nina, noticing Katt's mood, decided to ask Jack. "So Jack, who is Stella?"

"Hmm? Oh, she's my older sister." That seems to perked Katt's ears up. 'So he wasn't taken!'

"Great….if Stella's not here with us, I can bet she's probably worried sick about us and you know what happen next…." Zack say with a grim expression, to which both Selphie and Xing Long grimaced as well.

"Uh….what is going to happen if she do that?" Yua ask, to which Diana turn around to her and reply. "You probably don't want to know."

"So much for our simple plan…..could things get any worse?" Jack look up to the heavens as if asking for His advice.

"I'm afraid it is getting worse than that." Everyone turn to the door to see Fiona standing at the door. "You are?" Diana asked first.

"Fiona Alyssa Lennete, one of the students of the Magic School and I'm the one who found that book. About you guys going home, I'm afraid it is not possible at this time."

"Why is that, Fiona?" Nina asked her friend who wears a sober look.

"Well….the section where the original spell used to open the portal…..is gone." She look at the shocked faces and further explain before they could ask. "Don't ask me why! Apparently that spell is set for one use only and I searched the book over three times with no luck. Headmaster Yoji say he will examine the book to see if there is other counter spell though."

"Great……Me and my big mouth……" Jack muttered while slapping his hand on his forehead.

"Then again, going home is not our first priority now." Everyone turn to Diana who has a calm face. "Our first priority is to find our friends then we can figure out how to get home, after all Fiona says the spell is missing but not the book, so that should be no problem." She made out her point.

"Agreed. I believe this our best course of action for now." Xing Long added. Jack, Zack and Selphie all nodded their head in agreement.

"Then it is settled. If you give me the description of your friends, I can ask the guild master of the Rangers Guild to keep an eye out for them. If they are found, I'll let you know." Bow offered his assistance.

"I'll stay here and research the book with Master Yoji, we found anything, you'll be the first to know." Fiona chirped in.

"Wow….you guys are wonderful! We just got here but you guys will do everything for us! You guys are the nicest bunch I ever see!" Selphie happily spoke her thoughts out, which have Ryu and his friends smiled in return.

"Just glad to be help." Ryu smiled with a wink.

--------

Somewhere in the northern sea, there is an uncharted island in the middle of the sea. This island is not in the direct path of any major sea route, so it is largely unknown to the outside world. On the island, a big mansion can be seen on the top of the hill, surrounded by dead trees and the island itself is constantly bombarded by lightning storm, which constantly have dark clouds surrounding the island. The island's habitants are roaming the island wandering aimlessly, but if you look closely, they are no ordinary habitants for they have pale skins with no signs of life. More accurately, these habitants are actually an undead known as zombies and they are not alone. Skeleton swordsmen, knights, floating ghosts and all kinds of undead can be found here as well, this island is truly for the undead.

Inside the mansion, the habitants inside the mansion are living ones, who all gathered in the deep basement, performing some sort of experiments. All of the habitants all have black hoods covering them from head to toe with one exception. This particular one is an old human with long beard and white hair and wore a black hood with a symbol on the back that resemble a red cross with a bone in the middle of it and his eyes can only be describe as insane.

The old man watch on to see his servants, chanting in a magic circle around a woman, caught from a village in the mainland, lying in the middle of the circle. With the continuing chant, the magic circle glowed in intensity with the woman, but then something goes wrong. The magic circle flashed in a bright light that the old man and his servants have to shield themselves from the flash of light. Once the light subsided, the woman in the magic circle is gone, leaving only a speck of dust in her place.

"Damn it! Another failure!" The old man smashes his fist on a nearby table, causing some bottles to fall from the table and crash on the floor, while his servants cower in fear from him. "I need to find new specimens to complete this experiment or all my life's work will be for naught! If it weren't for those damn Highlanders, I wouldn't be doing this secretly!"

"Perhaps I can help you with your experiment if you hear my side of proposition."

The old man turn immediately to see the intruder, who was standing at the door. This intruder is wearing a black armor and a black face helmet that looks like a skeleton with horns on the helmet, keeping his face hidden. Anyone would have thought this man could be a warrior if not for him carrying a long magician staff which is black as well.

"You! How do you get here? There is no way you can past through my undead warriors and my detection spell!" The old man shouted angrily at the black armored man, who chuckled at him.

"Do not be so impulsive….I have come to offer you my assistance. It is also quite easy to get past your warriors and spell if I do not have my own tricks such as yours, Sorcerer Zalion of the Xeno Cult."

"So you know me….and you are a sorcerer as well….interesting. What kind of proposition you wish to offer? And what is your name?" Zalion begin to take interest and sat down on a nearby chair.

"My name is not important in this matter, but if you insist, my name is Sindri (1), a fellow sorcerer like you. This proposition is kind of a win-win situation for both of us. Let me explain in detail for you….."

And so, the dark meeting continues……..

**Time:Goddess Era 2020**

**Location:Windlan, Aspiara**

Stella was walking along the corridor, seemingly looking bored. She has just left the library and the impromptu lecture lesson from Professor Gaist, who talks about the various magic in the world of Aspiara, confirming at least to her suspicion that they are not in Terra. Though she is quite interested in Aspiara history, particular the Goddess War 2000 years ago and the recent War of the Dragons 6 months ago, but she easily get tired listening if the subject is not of her concern. But her friends, Raquel, Miyako and surprisingly Robert, were paying attention to Gaist's lecture. Stella sighed, knowing full well that those three are dedicating students ever since she knows them in ACADEMIA, at least she won't worry too much about Robert's flirting now. Speaking of which, Bob is not in the library either, presumably went to chat with Raifel, who they became close friends.

She stops near the window which overlooked the city down below and looks out, breathing in the fresh and pure air and watching the windmills on the towers spinning. It has been two weeks since their arrival here and thanks to Nina's hospitality; they now live in the guest rooms in her castle, still waiting for news of their missing comrades. Ryu, on the other hand, has left Windlan about 10 days ago to the Imperial Capital of the Dark Dragons, citing some sort of trouble and needs his help to check it out. She sighed again and begin thinking how the others are doing, especially her younger brother Jack and hope they are all okay and such…..

"Stella? Stella!" Stella jumped in surprise and whirled around, then relaxed when she see it is Nina who call her. "Nina! You scared me! You almost gave me the heart attack!" Stella tried to calm herself by repeatly patting her chest.

"Sorry for that. But when I saw you standing there, I decided to talk to you. So what were you thinking?" Nina stands beside Stella and look out the window as well.

"Oh…a lot of things…" Stella explained vainly.

"Still worried about your brother and your friends?"

Stella nodded to her, inwardly marveling at Nina's insight. "Well, I couldn't help it. We've been here for two weeks now and there's still no news of them. The others may look calm but they are worried as well and they find other ways to keep them occupied. Besides staying here for so long, I'm getting worried we might cause inconvenience to you…." Stella trailed off and Nina just shakes her head.

"No way. You guys did not cause any inconvenience at all. Besides, didn't I say before that I will help whenever I can?" She smiled to Stella. "And speaking of getting your mind off of this, I thought you were at the library, listening to Gaist's lecture?"

"Uh uh, I am sick of listening to lecture at this very moment. Thank you very much. Though I can't believe the others can stand this…." Stella makes a mock grumble while Nina giggled at her expression.

"You're just like me, Stella." Nina spoke after she stops giggling. "Huh?" Stella looks at her with a confused expression. "About skipping the lecture thing. When I was young, I have to listen to all the boring lecturing about many things, training in sword fighting, do my royal duty and such….that I sometimes have to skip the lessons all together. I always get away with it, for my father will place the blame on people teaching me. But, as a princess I can't do that all the time because it is my responsibility to my people, and it kinds of making me feel envious for the ordinary girls who lead their freedom….." Nina spoke with a sad expression.

"Nina…." Stella realized that Nina is telling her about her personal life and how she felt all this year and judging from what she heard of the story about her role in the War of the Dragons, she knew that Nina never have a female friend at her age group to talk to.

Resolving to help her, Stella put her hand on Nina's shoulder, surprising her. "Nina, I know I can't help solve all your problems, but you can count on me, Miyako and Raquel to help you, especially on 'girls' only problem. Just tell us and we will help you." She gave Nina with a wink, which Nina smiled back in appreciation.

"Thank you, Stella. I'll take your offer."

"That's the spirit, girl! Oh, by the way, can you tell me your adventures during the War of the Dragons?" Stella then claps her hand together and look at Nina earnestly.

"I thought Gaist already told you about that." Nina smiled again to which Stella rolled her eyes.

"From a third person perspective, that is. What I want is to hear directly from you who is involved in all of this with no exaggeration."

"This could be a long story…."

"I got plenty of time and don't forget to tell me in details on how you and Ryu meet each other and how your relationship with him goes from there….."

"S-Stella!"

-------

In the southern sea, a merchant ship has just left the port from the East Continent and is schedule to head to another port in West Continent. It was a daily routine to the captain and crew of the ship ever since the war is over six months ago. The captain was just relaxing in his room, writing down his log as usual, when someone knocks his door repeatly. Before the captain answer, the door opens in hurry and his first mate just rush in.

"What is it that you have to charge in my room like that?" The captain looks at his first mate with an astonished expression. His first mate looks up panting and he looks like he have just seen a ghost. "Captain! Please come with me to the deck! You have got to see this! Hurry!" With that, he immediately ran out of the room. The captain then followed him a few minutes later after recovering himself from the shock at his first mate's attitude.

"What in Ladon's name…." The captain finally knows the reason of his first mate frantic attitude. On the port side of his ship, he saw icebergs in the sea, which can only be found in the Artic Region and there is no way iceberg can be found floating in the warmer southern sea. Before he can bark any orders, some of the crew suddenly scream in terror and pointed towards something on the iceberg. The captain immediately look to the direction his crew pointed and saw ice creatures, resembled like stone golem only in ice, are on top of the iceberg. Before anyone can even react, these ice creatures began blowing ice breath on the ship, instantaneously freezing everyone and the ship up. Now the ship is now part of an iceberg field on the southern seas as the sea around them began to freeze up as well…….

-------

At the continent where once the mighty Dark Dragon Empire located, the now pacifist country has rebuilt the Imperial Capital to its former glory, though it has not been completely rebuild yet. But now, instead of bustling sounds that normally accompanied the city each day, there is now silence. What now replace are ice blocks with people froze inside, each made a gesture of escaping from something horrible but never could. And inside the castle itself……

"RYU!" Someone cried out to him when Ryu crashed to the ground heavily, part of him freezes up when the opponent use ice magic on him. Ryu, though shivering, put up a defiant look at his opponent, who is now floating in the air above him.

This opponent wears what magicians always wear but in an ice-blue colored and has a face mask on his face. He looked down at the Light Dragon, clapping his hands. "Very impressive. I have heard that Light Dragon Clan are weak against ice. Even it is not true, I am still impressed you managed withstand my attacks so far."

"Heh! You think that kind of magic can stop me?" Ryu smiled defiantly, though he was still shivering from the earlier blast.

"Then how about this? This is more powerful than the ones I use before!" The sorcerer then immediately blast Ryu with a powerful wave of ice magic, causing Ryu to scream in pain as his body began to freeze up.

Within minutes, Ryu is now encased in the pillar of ice and the sorcerer laughed in triumph. "HAHAHA! First you, then the other eight heroes and next the world will freeze and we, the Ice Dragon Clan, will rule it for eternity!"

At the nearest hill overlooking the Imperial City, the purple hooded man is standing there. Looking through the events inside the castle from a crystal ball, he smiled evilly. "Ah yes. They have done well. Hopefully they can keep this up for much longer…." With that said, he teleports and disappeared from the hill.

Sindri – He is an evil Chaos character from a PC game call Warhammer 40000, I like his evil and calculating planning, so I put him here in my fic. And don't worry, he is NOT wielding any guns in this fic in case anybody ask…..


	6. Chapter 5: New Crisis

**Breath of Fire: Of Time and Destiny**

**_Chapter Five: New Crisis_**

**Time:Goddess Era 2520**

**Location:Township, Aspiara**

"Whoa…." Zack response has summarized what others have thought as well as they have entered through the town gate. They were already surprised by Nina's Teleport spell which have teleport them from Hometown to Township, which is basically one continent to another. This kind of ability is considered possible to only the highest level of mages in Terra and to think someone as young as Nina could do that surprised them.

Jack and the others got another surprise when they see Township consists of ordinary common houses that sat in the middle of the town, log houses (with a gondola as a mean of transport to come between forests that separates them) sat at the right side of town and Arabian style houses on the left side. On top of all that, there is only one tall building with a dragon statue by its side located at the north of the town, with a fountain in the path leading to it. Both Selphie and Diana look at the town with awe while the boys are slack jawed at the different style this town offer.

"Come on guys. Let's show you where your rooms are." Ryu smiled proudly at his new friends' reaction. "Hey Ryu, where do you guys live? These common houses or the log houses or those houses over there?" Selphie asked them while pointing her finger to three different houses.

"Actually we live in that building." Bow grinned and points his finger to the tall building with the dragon statue, which once again have Selphie and the others stare in awe again.

"WHAT! I thought that building is for the village elder!" Zack cried out in surprise and then gasped. "Could it be…..you guys own this town?"

"Not really. When I first came to this 'town' in the past, there is only one broken house. Then Ryu managed to get some carpenters here and they expand it into this town you saw today." Katt explained quickly and simple.

"How much does it cost for you guys to build and expand it?" Jack finally asked after another few minutes of awe.

"Ummm…..actually we just got it free of service after helping the carpenters from a certain incident." Nina spoke softly, which Jack immediately turn and looked at her wide-eyed.

"Really? Free of service? No costs to you?"

"Hey! Are you doubting Miss Nina's credibility? I believe in every word she says about this and this is fine by me." Zack immediately jumped to Nina's defense, which surprised Jack. Now it was Xing Long's turn to ask Zack with a look of suspicion.

"Zack, did a brick hit your head? You never give anybody an honorific address before, so why start now?"

"S-shut up! Nobody ask for your opinion about my behavior!"

"Um, excuse me Zack. You don't have to call me 'Miss', just Nina will do." Nina spoke softly; to which Zack immediately give her his 100 attention.

"Of course! Miss Nina! I-I mean Nina!" Nina is quite startled by his behavior that she can only nod in return. While Jack and Xing Long just exchange looks of confusion, Diana just giggled softly at the scene.

"Hey Diana, what's so funny?" Yua asked her with Selphie looking at Diana as well. "No, it's nothing. But something incredible and funny is about to happen in the near future." She replies mysteriously, to which both Yua and Selphie just shrugged, not understanding what she meant.

Ryu decide to catch everyone's attention by clearing his throat. As soon as everyone gives him their full attention, he spoke. "Now that I have your attention, let us go and get you settled in, I'll tell you later about the town's history after that."

"Are you sure you can give us rooms like that? I just hope we do not cause inconvenience to you….." Jack worriedly expressed his opinion but Katt immediately dismissed it.

"Nonsense! You do not cause anybody inconvenience and besides we want to help you because we want to. Right, Ryu?" Ryu nodded his head in agreement.

"Well now that it is over, shall we go in? If this takes any longer, I could be a BBQ dog out here." Bow urged at his friends with a mock desperation, which have everyone laughing. After that, everyone then went in the tall building.

After a brief introduction with Niro who act like a receptionist at the counter and the shamans who lived next door whose sexy outfits have Jack and Zack tried to look at their faces instead of somewhere lower while Xing Long remain impassive about this (Jack wondered how he managed to do that), they finally went inside the building and survey them. Ryu have told them that the house have been renovated recently so it was a little bigger than before (Jack doesn't think that the word 'little' is good to describe this). On the ground floor pass the receptionist room is the living room where several couches and chairs and a big table is located.

The stairs leading upstairs is at the side with a bookcase. A doorway leading past the bookcase leads to a spacious dining hall with a large kitchen by the side. Diana comment that the dining table is probably enough to accommodate at least 10-20 people. After that, they went upstairs and see that there are at least 6 rooms in the first floor, Yua told them the other three floors also have the same number of rooms, making it 24 rooms in total.

"Why do you guys need so many rooms for? You say there are only five of you staying here and plus us, that leaves ten-plus rooms. So why?" Selphie look at her new friends astonished.

"Well….due to the recent event, our home was slightly damaged and Niro probably took the chance to upgrade it, with us paying the bill." Ryu respond with a shrug of his own. "Besides, with some of our friends going to their respective home, this place does look very empty with only us around." Bow added as well.

"Wow, if you guys didn't convinced me that this is your home to begin with, I would have thought you guys are starting a five star inn as your business venture." Jack marveled.

"Well……ranger job is much better than that. I prefer to go around the world and help people in need." Ryu said modestly. "But enough about that, you guys can pick which room you want at the second floor." Jack and the others nodded, then they proceed to go up the stairs. Xing Long is the last one to go up when he turn around. "Just one question, there is supposed a sixth room here that is unoccupied, right?"

"No, it is occupied. A scientist by the name of Eichici lives there, she's currently working right now." Nina replied, to which Xing Long thanked her then went up.

"Man, I'm beat." Jack lie down on his bed after putting his bag and bo staff on the table. He then began to comprehend what Ryu and the others told him so far: an ancient book from two millennia ago, Ryu used it and accidentally 'summoned' them, Stella and others missing, particular summon spell vanished after one use...

Jack doesn't know why, but something just doesn't feel right to him. He knew Ryu and his friends can be trusted and genuinely wish to help them, he knows that for some unknown reason, but it is about that ancient book he felt curious about. Whoever wrote that book must have been a powerful mage to make a spell to create that vortex, but then why it appear before him and his friends at Terra? Is it because they were at the wrong place at the wrong time or could it be……..

Just then a knock snapped him out of his thought and he promptly sat up on his bed. "Come in." He called out and then the door open with Katt walking in the room. "Hi Jack, just wanted to know whether you felt comfortable in your room. Is it ok?" Katt spoke first, taking him by surprise but he smiled at her.

"Of course. This room is fine and the bed is comfortable. Thank you for your concern. So what brings you here?"

Katt smiled back to him, secretly glad that Jack has asked the question. "Well…I was wondering whether you want to join me for a spar? Since you carry a bo staff and I wanted to see how skilled you are."

"Sure, why not? It is better than sitting here thinking about so many stuff." Then he proceeds to take his bo staff from the table and walks to her. "So, shall we go?"

Katt happily obliged and led Jack out of their home and towards a clear grass field behind the apartment building. "So Jack, how good is your skill with bo staff?" She asks after distancing herself from Jack, then dropped into her battle stance.

"Well, it depends on your perspective of skill though, but in my world most of my colleagues considered my skill to be pretty good." Jack spins his staff before assuming his own battle stance. "But, I guess that will be proven right now, don't you thnk?" Jack gave her a wink.

"You sure are modest, aren't you? In that case, I'll let you make the first move." Katt smiled, as she begin to take more interest on Jack. Jack smiled back, then his expression immediately went serious and charged forward, delivering two successive swings at Katt, whom easily dodged them and counterattack with her own blows, but Jack successfully block every blow she made.

This spar match has been going on for half an hour, with neither side gaining advantage over each other. Both combatants have been exchanging blows, block and counterattack for some time, until both of them have their staff lock to each other…..then they just simply sat down and laugh.

"Wow, it's been a long time since I have a good sparring partner. You're pretty fast and I could barely dodge or block your attacks." Jack spoke after they finish laughing and gave her a big grin.

"Barely? Just give yourself more credit, will you? Not many people have been able to block or dodge my attack except Ryu. But even so, you are quite amazing." Katt smiled as well, gaining respect to the young man in front of her.

Then Jack finally stands up, then extended his hand to Katt, which she accepts and got up with his help while blushing a bit.

"So Jack, you probably haven't heard of St Eva and DeathEvan since you came here, right?" She asks, to which he shook his head. "Nope, Can't say I've heard of it."

"Then let's go in and tell the whole story to you guys with Ryu and the others!" She winked to him and immediately pulled him back to the apartment.

"Hey Katt! You don't have to pull me! You're going to pull my arms off!"

**Time:Goddess Era 2020**

**Location:Windlan, Aspiara**

"Brrrrr….Why is it so cold today? Yesterday it was still warm and cozy…" Stella complained to herself after she woke up in the morning, only to feel cold after getting off the bed. She immediately went to the window and pull the curtain hoping the sunlight will help disperse the cold air in the room. Instead of the warm sunlight that baths in, all she saw is a severe snowstorm outside.

"A snowstorm? I don't remember anybody say anything about that." Stella begin to wonder when a knock, which sound urgent, came from her bedroom door. She immediately grabs her jacket from the table and went to open the door, only to see Miyako standing there, panting.

"Oh good! You've already awake! Come on, you got to hurry!" Miyako immediately grab Stella's hand and literally pull her along.

"W-Wait! Just calm down and tell me what's going on? Why is there a snowstorm right now?" Stella spoke while zipping her jacket to keep herself warm. She was surprised by Miyako's current behavior, who in the past always acts like a tough and serious girl, but now what she sees in front of her is a slightly panicked girl.

"All will be explained at the main hall. Come on, the others are waiting too." With that, both girls quickly make their way to the main hall. Stella survey her surroundings whatever place she pass by and saw only one common thing: confusion. Guards, maids, scholars and every castle staff seems to be gossip around, trying to find out why a snowstorm at this time of year and say it is a bad omen or such.

When they arrived at the main hall, she saw Bob, Robert and Raquel along with Raifel is there waiting for them. "Finally! The sleeping beauty is here! How about a morning kiss for me?" Robert spoke jokingly to her.

"Cut the crap, Robert. This is a serious matter around here and all you can do is joke around?" Stella look at him incredibly, who raised his hands in defeat.

"Great….I thought I could just lighten the mood around here. Alright, rule no. 1: Blame Mr. Robert here for all the bad jokes."

"If you two are finished, I think it's time we find out what's with that snowstorm. Raifel?" Bob turn to his winged friend, who nodded his head and turn to face everyone grimly.

"As you all probably aware, this snowstorm is not exactly natural, consider this is summer season of the year. We do not have enough information as to why it appear but according to our sources, it seem to originate from the southern sea and parts of the area near there has completely frozen up. Now that particular snowstorm has finally hit us and most of the northern area has the same phenomenon as we are. That is all I know at this point." As Raifel finished his report, everyone began to stare each other in disbelief.

"This is freaky….a snowstorm appearing out of nowhere and freeze everything in its path….Do you guys think that this is a work of magic?" Miyako asks Raifel, but it was Raquel who shook her head.

"It is hard to tell. This snowstorm seems to obscure anyone from detecting its magical properties. Whoever did this must be a powerful mage….." Raquel put her opinion forward.

"I guess so too. Though I would like to chat and discuss more, but unfortunately duty calls to me, so I must take my leave." Raifel bow solemnly.

"Thanks pal for telling us about this. If you guys got more info about this, tell us." Bob smiled to his friend, who smiled back and leave the room.

"Hey guys! Where is Nina now?" Stella asks. "She's at the throne room with her father and his advisers to discuss about this situation, I think they still trying to figure out what's going on." Robert replied to her.

Upon hearing that, Stella began pacing around, thinking hard about the current matter. Then, as if she has decided, she prepares to go out the room. "Hey Stella, where are you going?" Bob asks, but it was Robert who answered his question.

"Let me guess, you want to go to the throne room and eavesdrop on the discussion, right?" Stella stops dead at her tracks with a giant sweat drop on her head. "I guess that is a bingo."

"WHAT!" Miyako immediately charged forward and proceed to strangle Stella. "Are you nuts? You're going to get yourself a death warrant if you do this! Even if Nina will vouch for you, you still going to get life imprisonment for this!"

"Will you just calm down, Miyako!" Stella managed to pry her hands away from her neck. "Sitting here and waiting for news is not my style and I prefer to know what the king knows about this!"

"I can't calm down with you trying to make a stupid move such as this!" Miyako exasperated at her friend, who cover her ears from the barrage of words. "Besides, why do you need to do that when Nina can just come out and tell us everything?"

Before the argument can go any further, they heard a commotion at the throne room and a shriek from Nina. All five friends look at each other, then they proceed to run to the throne room, thinking trouble struck there. When they arrived however, they were surprised to see Zeke is carrying Nina on his right arm, who is now cursing at her bodyguard and frantically tried to free herself.

"Let me go! Zeke! I'll pluck all your feathers from your wings if you don't!"

"What should I do with the princess, your highness?" Zeke ignored Nina and look intently at the King. The King then thinks for a while and gave an order that stunned Stella and her friends.

"Shut her in her room."

"Yes, your majesty. I will do that…." Zeke proceed to carry Nina to her room and she is still struggling against him.

"Stella! Bob! Raquel! Help me! Father! You are such an idiooooooooot!" Her cries faded when Zeke took her farther away from the throne room. Stella and her friends then give chase after a few minutes of stun silence. As her friends went after their winged friends, Stella stops and hears the King and his advisers talking among themselves when she was outside the door and eavesdrop on the conversation.

"Maybe I was being too rough on her…She probably hates me now…." Stella guesses this must be Nina's father.

"Of course not, your highness. It's just that your method is a little too forceful….." Stella recognized the voice as Professor Gaist.

"Forceful? But if the cold wave now is the work of that clan…..that Ice Dragon Clan…Will I just sit here and watch my daughter getting killed?"

Stella has heard enough and she quickly went after her friends, whom she managed to catch up with. By the time, they all arrived at Nina's room, they saw Zeke and a guard locking her door up.

"Hey Zeke! What's going on? Why did the King want to shut his daughter in her room?" Bob immediately ask Zeke, who have a worried look on his face.

"Princess Nina wants to go to the Imperial Capital by herself when she heard it is near the origin of the cold wave. But the King wouldn't allow her to go and the princess is…..stubborn, so he had no choice but to do this."

"Imperial Capital? Wait, isn't that where Ryu is going about a week ago?" Miyako said it out loud and Stella knew the reason of Nina's commotion.

"That is correct. But His Majesty is worried for the princess's safety so he wouldn't let her go. It is the only way to stop her going." Zeke replied calmly.

Stella wanted to retort that but Robert managed to cover her mouth and smiled. "I see, I guess I could understand his concern for her. But you sure she wouldn't escape from her room?"

"We've already lock the windows and the door here, so she would have no choice but to stay here. If you excuse me, I have a duty to attend to." Zeke began to take his leave. After walking a few steps, he turns to them. "Please do not leave the castle at this time. It is too dangerous with that snowstorm outside.

"Thanks for your concern, Zeke." Robert smiled to Zeke, his hand still cover Stella's mouth. After Zeke left, he proceed to pull Stella away to the corridor, to the amusement of his three friends and the guard. Then Bob, Miyako and Raquel follow their companions to the corridor. Robert, making sure there is no one around them, proceeds to talk to Stella, hand still covers her mouth.

"All right, Stella. I know you are pissed off, but you won't help Nina if you start a ruckus here. So it is better to lay low and help Nina out of her room without alerting the whole army. I have an idea, but you must not shout when I released you, ok?" Robert seriously look at her, which Stella, surprised at his serious attitude, nodded her head, then he slowly uncover her mouth.

Without waiting for anyone to speak, Robert immediately takes charge and talk softly to his friends. "All right, before I start this, I have to ask all of you that if you guys are up to this. You can still drop out while you can." The others are surprised to say the least; they never see him so serious before, lest taking charge of a plan.

Then Stella raised her hand, determination can be found written on her face. "I'm going. Ryu and Nina have helped us a lot when we all came to this world, even though we were just strangers. So it's time for me to return the favor to her and save Ryu."

"Well, I'm in too. I understand how the king feels but I don't think locking her up is a good idea. Instead it could be an opposite effect of what he did, she could be more depressed than before if she could not help her friend in need." Bob summed up his reason.

"Besides, it is not good to keep lovers apart, especially in this dire time. I also want to repay them as well for their help, so reuniting them seems to be a good idea." Everyone looks at Raquel; slack jawed at her bluntness who smiled back innocently.

Then they all look intently at Miyako, who looks like she wanted to protest but dropped her head in resignation. "Oh great….why are you guys so reckless….Ah well! I am not going to back out of this. If not, who is going to watch over you guys if you are in trouble?" They smiled apologetically at Miyako then they all look at Robert.

"Okay then. Here's the plan and don't forget our gears and meet back here in five minutes……."

--------

It was mid-afternoon now, but the snowstorm outside make it looks like it is night all day.

The guard, who is standing guard at Nina's door, remains vigilant and cautious of his surrounding. Ever since the snowstorm starts this day, the general has declared that all troops to be on guard in case of anything happens. This guard understands the princess wants to help Ryu and he wanted to open the door to let her out, but he has orders from the King himself, so he has no choice at the matter.

Just then, he noticed a girl with long black cape approaching and she was carrying a basket of fruits with her. He relaxed when she got closer for better viewing.

"Miss Raquel, what brings you here at this hour?" The guard inquired.

"Well, as you can see, I am bringing some fruit for Nina to eat. Will you mind opening the door for me?" Raquel smiled innocently to the guard, who looks hesitant.

"I'm sorry, Miss Raquel. But I was instructed not to open the door in case Princess Nina might escape. If I do that they might punish me for it"

"I understand your position. But please just open the door and let me in for a while. Maybe I could talk some sense into her and make her give up. I'll do it real quick."

The guard thinks for a while, then sighed as he began to unlock the door. "All right, you win. Just be quick though, who knows when Zeke will be coming by."

But as he finished unlocking the door, Raquel put her hand on his shoulder and muttered a word "Stun!" and the guard just fainted on to the ground. Immediately, Stella, Miyako, Bob and Robert quickly came out from the corner of the corridor. Stella went to the door, while Robert, Raquel and Miyako stands guard and Bob carried the unconscious guard.

When Stella open the door slowly and looked in, she heard a gasp from her left and looked up, seeing Nina was holding a flower vase meant to drop on Stella's head.

"Stella? Oh by Ladon, I could have hit you! But why are you here?" Nina spoke after lowering the vase. "Hey, you called for help, remember?" She smiled to Nina, who immediately blushes. "I did, huh? Well thanks for helping me out…..Oh what happened to him?" Nina pointed to the unconscious guard that Bob just brought in and put him on the chair.

"Don't worry about him. I just put a spell on him; he'll wake up in a few minutes or so." Nina turns to see Raquel, Miyako and Robert at the door.

"Wow, princess…..looks like you already prepare for the journey after all." Robert spoke after he scrutiny Nina for a bit. Robert is right in his observation, Nina is not wearing her dress, but instead she now wears a pink body suit with pink boots and has long cape. Her rapier is worn on her belt.

"Thank you guys. But I don't want to get you involved in this….." Nina spoke softly but Stella cut her off. "We are already involved in this ever since we decide to bust you out. Besides you help us a lot, so it's our turn to help you save Ryu!"

"You guys coming too?" Nina looks astonished. "But…."

"Nina, remember I told you that if you had trouble, we will help you? Now is the time we honor that?" Stella smiled to her friend.

"Besides, letting a girl go alone on a journey is a serious no-no, so let us help." Robert winked to Nina as well.

"Thanks guys." Nina is glad to have such good friends by her side.

"All right….so how do we leave this castle? We can't exactly just leave through the front gate." Bob point out. "Any ideas, Robert?"

"I was hoping we could escape through a back door. But apparently security has been tightened. So we need a new escape route…." Robert begins thinking when Nina spoke out.

"I know a way out. There is a secret passage under the castle that goes through an underground maze. But first we need to head to the kitchen, that's where the entrance is."

"Talk about a secret entrance in a kitchen, wouldn't anyone see us there?" Miyako spoke with a hint of doubt.

"Who cares? We'll improvise when we get there, so let's go! Time is of essence here!" Stella grabs Nina and Robert out of the door, follow by Bob and Raquel. Miyako just shook her head in disbelief before leaving and closing the door behind her.

**Time:Goddess Era 2520**

**Location:Township, Aspiara**

Xing Long has just closed the front door of their home of which he and his friends had shared with Ryu and others. He is the first and only one to wake up in the early hours of the morning but he doesn't mind that since this is his custom to wake up early in the morning. Xing Long exhaled the pure and fresh air, which he believes consider rare in Terra where only countryside have these kind of air. It has been a week since they have arrived here in the world of Aspiara and settled down here in Township and Xing Long is thankful to Ryu and his friends' hospitality who gave them a place to live and was genuinely surprised to learn that these people are actually heroes who saved the world 3 months ago as they heard about Ryu and his friends' account.

Xing Long then began his daily routine by practicing his katana swings, which he always did in every normal day. Although it is just one week, the others have also done their daily routine as well. Take Jack for example, he has been practicing his skill on bo staff by sparring with Katt every morning, then went to chat with Bow and Ryu in the afternoon (sometimes they went fishing with little to big success). Selphie on the other hand has been chatting with everyone, particularly with Nina, Yua and Katt, which Xing Long presumes they must be talking about female stuff (which he thinks is none of his business). Diana has been reading books that she borrowed from Nina (amazingly the books are written in English in Aspiara too) and have discussed thing like magic with Nina. Then there was Zack, who has been acting weird since they arrived at Aspiara (or more precisely around Nina according to his observation). Sure, he is still himself like chatting happily with his friends and practicing his boomerang swords, but when Nina comes into the picture, he'll immediately become a shy guy and will listen to her talk even the topic does not interest him.

'This isn't like him…..he never acts like that in front of Diana and Raquel. Wonder if he had hit his head against a wall or something…' Xing Long thought to himself as he tried to find the logical reasons for his friend's unusual behavior. Then the heat of the sunlight broke his thoughts and look up to see the sun is up by an angle.

'So, it's already that time, huh? The others should be awake and prepare breakfast by now…' He sheathes his katana then proceeds to walk back to his home when he saw a figure walking towards him. When the man got more closer, Xing Long immediately recognize the man as one of the rangers they met in the guild when they came there to ask for help on searching for their missing friends.

"Excuse me, sir? Are Ranger Ryu and Bow at their home? I have an urgent message for them from the Guild Master himself." The ranger was panting when he was speaking, which Xing Long deduce the ranger must have ran all the way here. Nodding his head, Xing Long quickly led the ranger into the house.

--------

Ryu muttered a curse after he finished reading the letter and hand it to Bow, who later became wide eyed after reading it after a while. Everyone has gathered at the dining hall and was just having breakfast when Xing Long and a ranger walked into the room. After a few words with Ryu and Bow, the ranger gave the letter to them, then immediately bid everyone farewell before he left.

"Ryu? What's wrong? Did something happen?" Nina looked at Ryu with genuine concern. He smiled back to her, appreciating her concern then began addressing everyone in the room.

'Everyone, listen. Just now a letter from the Rangers Guild has just arrived and spoke a grave threat in the Highfort region and at the request of Queen Herfarann, all rangers will be dispatched to counter this threat and make sure the safety of civilians in the area."

Everyone was in a stun silence for a while, before broking into a full scale discussion between each other. Yua finally raised her hand to ask a question that everyone had in mind.

"So what is the threat?"

It was Bow who responded to her with a grim look.

"Undead."


	7. Chapter 6: Time to take action

**Breath of Fire: Of Time and Destiny**

**_Chapter Six: Time to take action_**

**Time:Goddess Era 2020**

**Location:Windlan, Aspiara**

After dodging and hiding from numerous guard patrols, the group managed to reach the kitchen without letting Nina being seen, which bring great relief to Stella and her friends. Luck seems to be at their side as well, as the kitchen staffs are not at duty at the time. Quickly, Nina went to the wall and pushes some sort of a button and then the door just open up in front of her. She immediately gesture her other friends to follow and went in the secret passage.

"Wow. This goes to say that old castles do have secret passages after all." Bob commented before going in as well. As soon as everyone went in, the door closes behind them and they made their way across the underground maze with the torches as their source of light to navigate through.

------

Zeke has just return from his guard duty for the King and he had a hard time digesting the information he heard from the King when he discussed it with his advisers. The fact that the cold wave the world is experiencing right now is the work of the Ice Dragon Clan, which he had never heard of until recently. Other information he heard from also help him understand why the King will not let Princess Nina to go, but he doubt it matters to her when it comes to Ryu.

He sighed, walking back to Nina's room so he can resume his guard duty…..only to find that the lone guard that is supposed to be there is not at his post. Sensing something is amiss, Zeke quickly strode forward and turn the handle and found it is unlocked. He immediately open the door and saw the guard have just regains consciousness from his chair and no Nina around in her room.

"Hey! What happened! Where's the princess!" His voice carries a tone of urgency and worry when he asked the guard.

"Miss Raquel….." The guard managed to utter the name but it is enough for Zeke to know that she must have help Nina escaped from her room. He immediately called out for nearby guards to search for the missing princess and her 'rescuer' and attend to the guard.

--------

"Thank the God! We're out!" Stella cried with great happiness as they found the exit after going through the most frustrating and tiresome navigation of the maze.

"Sorry, guys. This is my first time going through this maze so I'm not sure the way to the exit…." She spoke sheepishly.

"Well, if it is me and this is my first time here navigating through these, I wouldn't know the way either. So it is not your fault." Robert offered his support to Nina, then he take Nina's hand, which earned a dubious look from her.

"If you ever feel cold because of the snowstorm, feel free to come to me and I will---OUCH!" He never finished his sentence when Stella hit him on the head with her silver case.

'Geez….just as I thought he finally take the situation seriously, only to turn back to his old self and flirt with Nina again. That jerk!' Stella thought to herself as Robert crumpled to the floor comically while her friends either shook her head or shrugged.

"Come on, guys. Let's go outside and take a look." Raquel is the only one seemly oblivious to the whole situation and went out the passage. When everyone went out which is actually a cave under the castle, the cold blizzard wind greeted them as it blows them in their face. Everywhere the eyes could see are all cover in snow and there is absolutely no life around here.

"This is terrible…..who could have done this….." Miyako stare at disbelief at the scenery in front of her.

"The blizzard may be strong, but it won't stop me from going to the Imperial Capital. Come on, guys!" Nina spoke determinedly and began to stride forward.

"I knew if you want to escape, it will be either through the glass window of your room or through the rumor secret passage, but I didn't expect you guys are here too."

Everyone jerked their head up to see Raifel is flying above them; apparently he was waiting for them to come out.

"Raifel!" Bob cried out in surprise while Miyako quickly slap her hand on her forehead.

"Great…..we're busted…."

"Yes you are, young lady. I knew that Miss Raquel is not working alone to save the princess, but to think all of you are doing this…." Nina and her friends immediately turn to see Zeke and several soldiers at the mouth of the passage; obviously they follow through the passage to find them.

"Double busted……" Miyako mourned at the situation.

"Quit complaining! Ready yourselves and protect Nina!" Stella barked to her Asian friend and soon all five formed a circle with Nina as it center.

"Stella….you and your friends should not do this. Come with us back to the castle with the prin-"

"And lock her up in her room? Don't be stupid! We all know Ryu is in trouble and whoever created this cold wave will freeze Windlan anytime soon! And your first thought is to lock her up for her safety? Zeke! Raifel! All of you should have known better than that!" Stella roared out in righteous that have shocked Nina, Robert and the other three. Though Robert and the others have join Stella to help Nina, they didn't expect this kind of attitude before. The soldiers at the back of Zeke have lowered their heads in shame, Raifel still flying above but he seems like he understand her meaning but Zeke is the only one maintaining his resolve.

"Stella….what you say may be true, but her father, the King, is worried of her safety and I cannot let her go to a dangerous journey such as this." Stella threw up in an exasperated manner.

"Arrrgghhhh! Do you men always have to be so thick headed about this!"

"Hey! Stella! I deeply object to this accusation!" Bob immediately shouted to her while Raifel flew over and spoke to her.

"I understand how the princess feels and I want her to go too but……"

"Then no buts and let her go, ok old man!"

"O-old man?" Zeke felt he has been hit by a hammer and staggered backward while his soldiers have sweat drop on their heads.

While the argument is going on, Robert immediately nudged the stunned Nina and whispered to her.

"Now's your chance, Nina…go!" Nina is shocked about this and wanted to protest but Robert stops her. "Just go! We'll keep them busy…" Reluctantly, Nina immediately spread her wings and flies off….

….only to get intercepted by Raifel, whose sharp eyes have already saw her leaving and went to block her flight path.

"Princess, please come back with us to the castle. It's not I do not understand your feelings…"

"Shut up and let me pass! If you do not, I will….." Nina clenched her teeth in sheer determination and left her sentence unfinished as she unsheathes her rapier. She is determined to leave for her new friends have done everything to make sure she leave to help Ryu, so she is not going to waste their efforts by going back!

"Use force, huh? Have you forgotten that I was the one teaching you swordplay?" Raifel put on his serious face as he unsheathes his rapier. Nina responded by attacking him but he managed to repel her blows. The fight between them has everyone on the ground staring in disbelief.

"Raifel! Don't hurt the princess!" Zeke cried out to his comrade as the aerial duel continues with two white ball flying in the sky, each time crashing each other then separate. Then the duel stop with Raifel locking his sword with Nina, obvious to everyone that he has the upper hand in the battle.

"Very good, princess. Your skill is good….for a girl. Remember though you still not good enough to travel alone."

"I know…..the only skill I have been good at is my healing magic….but that's why! I do not know what has happened to Ryu…….but if something do happened to him, then I could help him with my magic! I can't stay here and do nothing when the most important person I care about is in danger! So…..no matter what happens, I want to be there for Ryu! Please Raifel!" With that final plea, she stares intently at Raifel's eyes.

"Nina….." Miyako, like her friends and the soldiers, all looked up and saw the emotional plea made by Nina. It seemed like an eternity before Raifel start laughing loudly.

"You win! I lose! You win, princess! If you are willing to go that far, there's nothing I say to hold you back! I'll let you go and do what you want! But! I'm coming with you! It is still too dangerous to let a girl go alone!"

"Raifel…..Okay!" Nina felt relief and happy that her bodyguard has offered to join her in this journey. On the ground, Zeke was startled at the change of events while Bob and Stella cheered happily.

"We should try to pick up Stella and the others…." Nina spoke before she was interrupted.

"Forget about us! Get out of here and save your boyfriend!" Stella shouted to them.

"Hey! Raifel! Take care of Nina for us! We'll keep the others here as long as we can!" Bob gave them a thumbs-up while keeping his eyes wary on Zeke and the soldiers.

"What! You idiot! Don't you understand the King is worried about her!" Zeke shouted to Raifel after recovering from his shock.

"Unfortunately, unlike you, a bachelor like me is easily moved by a lover's devotion!" Raifel respond with a glee, while Nina apologized to her friends and Zeke in general.

"If you want to stop them by force, then you must first pass through my naginata." Miyako then began moving forward with a determined look while the others could only stare at her. "Normally I would have opposed Nina's leaving, but after hearing her out, I have decided help her out!" She twirls her naginata several times before pointing it to Zeke's general direction.

After a few minutes of silence, Zeke suddenly roared his battle cry, which in turn surprised everyone in the vicinity with Miyako looking at him with a dumbstruck look. Then Zeke raised his battle staff up, ready to throw it into the direction of Miyako and the others.

"What! Don't tell me he's really serious on killing them!" Raifel was equally surprised at Zeke's movement. He knows Zeke is a serious guy and will probably do anything to accomplish his mission, but killing people is not one of them. Nina, having seeing this, was about to fly towards her friends, terrified of their safety.

"BEHIND YOU!" Zeke throws his battle staff and it flew past Stella and her group. By the time they turn around (to Raifel and Nina, it was below them) they just in time to see the staff destroy an ice creature right behind Raquel.

Although startled, everyone on the ground quickly jump away and ready their weapons as more ice creatures seemingly jumped out from the snow field.

"INCOMING!" Bob shouted as he extended his katar when some ice creatures began charging towards Stella.

Stella calmly opens the lock on her silver case, drop it on the ground which pops open and then gave it a kick, which the force makes her bat'leth 'jump' out of the case. She grabs one of the hilt of her weapon and gives it a wide angle swing with one hand, immediately slicing the ice creatures into two parts who foolishly charged at her.

"Nice move! You okay?" Robert asked when he came to her, his rapier unsheathe.

"You think I will be beaten by these creatures that easily?" She gave him a broad smile.

"I never see those creatures before. But more importantly, I never see that kind of weapon before." Nina spoke when she flies low with Raifel, who looks at her weapon with great interest.

"It's called a bat'leth, it means sword of honor-"

"While the topic is interesting, I suggest we keep our focus on the situation at hand. Those 'guests' of ours are waiting for our first move." Stella secretly peeved at Miyako's interruption but went immediately to battle stance with Nina and Raifel as they faced off the ice creatures, which made no move except more popping out of the ground.

"Sir Zeke! We have finish mobilized the troops!" A soldier reports to him while giving him another battle staff. Sure enough, a large number of Windlan troops have landed on the ground, weapons at the ready.

"Good! Don't let your guard down!"

"Yes sir!"

"These ice creatures……they do not charge at us, as if they are waiting for something…." Raquel put her opinions forward while she glows with aura, indicating she is ready to use her magic.

"I wonder if these ice creatures are the one responsible for the cold wave…." Nina looks at the army of ice golems forming in front of them.

"Exactly!"

The voice have everyone looked up and they see a magician floating in the sky above the ice creatures army.

"Who the hell are you?" Bob growled at the mysterious newcomer.

"I am Kruce, the most powerful sorcerer of the Ice Dragon Clan!"

"Ice Dragon Clan? I've never heard of such clan!" Raifel looks at Kruce with a bewilder expression.

"Why do you create this cold wave!" Nina demanded.

"We, the Ice Dragon Clan, created this cold wave to freeze the world to make it easier for us to live in and control….Quite a clear, simple reason. Nina, Princess of the Wing Clan! If you do not resist and allow us to strike, we will allow you to adorn this land as one of the beautiful pillars of ice for many years to come once we rule."

"That's the most arrogant bastard I ever see in my life!" Miyako gritted her teeth in anger.

"We'll never let you do this terrible thing! I don't know what hole you crawled out from, but my allies and I will take you down!" Nina spoke determinedly while pointing her sword at Kruce, who promptly laughed at her.

"What's so funny!" Nina angrily shouts at Kruce for making a mockery of her.

"My younger brother, Zazan and I have frozen almost all the lands in the world…..I wonder how many allies, the eight heroes, are left? Perhaps just you?"

"Do you think I will believe that?"

"Ah yes….like Ryu of the Light Dragon Clan, who I personally turned into a pillar of ice in the Imperial Capital, I guess the others are lumps of ice now…." With that said, he laughed maniacally.

Everyone is shocked to hear that, especially to Nina who began to envision Ryu encased in the ice pillar. But she pushed that thought into the back of her head and glared at Kruce with strong determination.

"I swear by those who govern the bonds of life…by the proud wings of Windlan! Kruce, I will kill you!"

The vow Nina made has encouraged her troops and they all roared together. Kruce seems to look amused at their resistance and continue laughing.

"Princess Nina, it will also be amusing to stain your beautiful wings with crimson blood…."

As if finishing his words is a signal, the Ice soldiers roared and charged towards the Wing Clan troops, whom themselves led by Nina, flanked by Raifel and Zeke and Stella and the others at the vanguard, charged at the enemy as well.

**Time:Goddess Era 2520**

**Location:Township, Aspiara**

The group now assembled outside the town's gate, apparently still discussing about the undead threat in the Highlander's territory. From what Jack learns from Nina, the Highlander Clan is essentially a monkey clan, only they are formidable warriors as they are trained at a very young age. Even so, they are not a hostile race and they are quite friendly to anyone unless some idiot decides to piss them off. He have also heard that in the past a Highlander by the name of Sten Legacy have once travel with them to defeat the evil that once live in the cave which is now sealed off at the edge of the town.

As Jack was digesting information he received, he heard a coughing sound and turn to see Ryu looking at them, more specifically him and his friends.

"Guys…I have to ask you again. Do you really need to go with us? This is a dangerous mission…."

"And again, I answer for all of us: We're going because we want to repay you guys for the kindness you show to us. You could have left us but you didn't."

"Besides, if you guys are going against undead, you need all the help you can get. We have experience against undead in our world, so we won't get in your way." Selphie spoke with a smile.

"And it is not good you take only Nina, Katt and Yua along whom they are not rangers. So it is fair we come along and we might be able to find news of our friends in that area as well." Diana spoke.

"She's right, you know! What happens if you guys could not protect Nina and the others? I can…I mean we are there to protect them in case anything happens!"

Xing Long looks at Zack with suspicion while fighting off an urge to say something sarcastic to him. Soon Xing Long spoke as well.

"If I had to stay here in this peaceful town with no action to satiate myself, I will probably die of boredom and agitation here."

Katt immediately pat him at the shoulder in a comradely manner. "My friend, I can understand how you feel for I myself almost die of no excitement for three months."

Ryu sighed while raising his hands as a sign of surrender. "All right, guys. You're in, but don't complain to me that I didn't warn you guys." He smiles at them, then turn frown at his younger sister. "And Yua…"

"No buts, brother! If you think I am defenseless, then think again. I learned certain techniques on self defense or I will not be able to survive all these years."

As if to prove her point, she immediately pulls her twin daggers out and immediately went on an impressive display of series of dagger dance, then she sheathe them back. Ryu sighed again in defeat.

"Buddy, I suggest we get going. Obviously you are a loser when it comes to persuasion and arguments." Ryu immediately look at his Glassrunner friend with a look of disgust, then turns to Nina.

"Fine. Nina, can you call Mina here? We need to fly there as fast as we can."

"Huh? Aren't we supposed to warp there, Ryu?" Jack spoke with a hint of surprise while Nina has begun searching for something in her pouch.

"Normally we teleport there when we need to. But according to the letter, these undead army has been seen near the city and the surrounding areas. I don't want to get us teleport there and found ourselves in the middle of them."

"Point taken. So who is Mina?"

Ryu did not say anything but pointed to Nina who has just taken an item out of her pouch. Jack could see the item concern is a gold medallion with a pair of wings as its insignia. Nina then lifts it up in the air and cried out: "Mina, we need you!"

After a brief moment of silence, it was quickly broken by sounds of flapping wings. Everyone looks up and Jack was astonished to see a giant bird has begun landing towards them. The sounds of gasp from his friends have clearly told him that he is not alone in this. The giant bird is white in color and it has a pair of rainbow-colored wings and Jack believes it is big enough to be the size of a helicopter, a recent invention of techno in Terra which can fly horizontally.

The bird lands at the open field in front of the group and Nina went to pat Nina's head and whisper something to it. Jack could feel some sort of aura coming from her and his instincts tell him that bird is no ordinary bird. The aura he felt from her is sadness.

"Everyone, come on. We've got to get to Highfort as fast as we can." Ryu's voice broke Jack's line of thoughts and he sees everyone has begun 'boarding' Mina. Pushing his thoughts aside, knowing the answer will have to wait for now, he went and climb on the back of Mina's back. Then with a cry, the giant bird then flaps her wings and carrying her passengers, she flew up rapidly to the sky.

-------

At an undisclosed location, Ryu and his friends' movement have not gone unnoticed for Sindri is watching through his crystal ball.

"Ah yes…..Just as we predicted, the Destined Child has gone to rescue their furry friends while our activities here have gone unnoticed."

"Grrrr….The thought of helping these cultists disgusts me."

Sindri turn to see a black armored warrior standing behind him. His face is pale in color and he has sharp teeth and he was carrying a scythe.

"Lord Bale (1), these cultists are just tools, nothing more. And quite an effective one if I might add."

"I still do not understand why we have to run an 'errand' for him and give them artifacts to these unpredictable 'creatures'."

"They are not unpredictable. These cultists are too busy experimenting and plotting their revenge on the Highlanders to take a notice of our true nature. The 'errand' we are going to do will help satiate their lust for knowledge and keep them occupied."

"I hope what you say is true, Sindri. We cannot afford anyone to find out our operation here or our Masters are not going to be pleased with us if it delays us of finding 'them'."

Both Sindri and Bale turn to the newcomer. Like them, he was wearing a black armor but his appearance shows him at the late 20s and he has a sword attached to his belt. Both of them made a small bow to him.

"Of course, Lord Tauron. I was never wrong in my prediction and never led you all astray so far, have I?"

"Of course you haven't and I have very much hope it keeps that way. Astral has already begun his operation and have report that 'distraction' there have some success in containing the eight heroes there…..I hope these undead can keep them busy as well."

"They will be, my lord. But trouble yourselves no more with these cultists. I will deliver the 'package' to them and we will get what we came for before the Destined Child realized a thing."

"See that you do that, Sindri. Remember, the Masters wants good news….Failure is not an option."

------

The great bird that the party is now riding has arrived at the Highfort region in about two hours, which surprises Jack since considering the vast distances between Township and Highfort. Still, he is impressed of the giant bird's ability to fly fast in such a large gap in distance (and strangely the speed did not blow everyone off the bird).

Bow was holding his breath when he looks down and has a pale face to show it. "Guys, you are not going to like what is going on down there."

As everyone looks down from the side of the great bird, they could not believe their eyes and some gasped at the sight. At the open field, all kinds of undead are moving slowly through the land, from zombies to skeletons and creatures made from different parts (which nobody wants to know what it made of).

"I don't think landing here is a wise choice." Jack says as he turns to Ryu. "So, what now?"

"Let's try to fly and see what's in front of us. Get to know the situation on how bad is it." Nina nodded to Ryu and gave instruction to Mina, which the bird obeyed. But no matter where they look since they have the bird's eye view of the surrounding area, the undead are everywhere.

"This is worse than what the letter says…..I wonder if everyone in the castle is okay?" Nina spoke with a hint of worry.

"Hey! They are in the castle, right? Those Highlanders are skilled warriors and the rangers dispatched are very good in this, so you shouldn't worry too much about them. But rather trust them!" Zack reassure her, who gave him an appreciative smile.

"Thank you, Zack."

Zack began to blush and scratch his head, while Bow look at Xing Long, who just shrug at the situation.

"But still, don't you guys think this is strange?" Everyone turn to look at Diana. "From what Nina told me, the undead here is no different than the ones from our world. They are unable to think of themselves, therefore impair of their ability to organize into such scale. So, the most reasonable thing I can think of is…"

"….that someone is controlling them." Ryu finished the sentence grimly. Diana nodded her head.

"So, what you mean is all we have to do is kill the ones behind all these and the undead will fall apart, right?" Katt suggested.

"Only problem is we do not know who controls these undead." Jack spoke and he began thinking. Then he looks up and talks. "Perhaps we should try to get inside Highfort, maybe they know something that can tell us on who was responsible for this."

"My thoughts exactly. Nina, can you get Mina to land near the forests? We can make our way there and we won't be easily surrounded by the undead if we get into a fight." Nina nodded and began instructing the bird.

"Can't we just land into Highfort? Wouldn't it be quicker that way?"

"Highfort is not exactly very sparse for her to land, Yua. Besides, it could cause unnecessary panic if we do that." Ryu clarify to his younger sister.

As Mina land near the edge of the forest, the party quickly jumped off the bird and Mina proceeds to fly into the sky. Everyone nodded to each other and began marching into the forest that connects to Highfort.

Everyone began to walk through the forest and as they see around, the forest looks peaceful and tranquil. But that doesn't mean they should put their guard down, for unlike any living creatures, undead sometimes attack unexpectedly and that could prove fatal to those unprepared. But so far, they have yet to encounter any undead.

"Guys…." Xing Long spoke, which Jack nodded his head.

"Yeah, I know. Something is watching us. But where?"

As if to answer his question, they heard a sound from above the trees. Then Katt shouted: "ABOVE!" And everyone scrambled out of the way just as something drop from above and crushed the ground. As the dust and leaves settled down, everyone held their breath in horror. The creature that stands in front of them is unlike any monsters they have encounter before for it has human female body with 6 arms, each holding a sword or a sickle, below her torso are eight spider legs with a spider's head, drooling with acid that burns the grass and a snake head acts like a tail behind her back.

"That is the worst combination and ugliest monster I ever see in my life!" Selphie shouted in disgust as she pulls out her nunchaku. Katt charged forward, swinging her battle staff for the kill. But the creature, despite its size, is much agile and avoided her strike and counterattack with its swords and sickles. Katt knelt down to avoid the strikes and jump away from the spot when one of the legs steps on where she was.

It shrieks in pain when a few arrows imbedded on its chest, courtesy of Bow. The creature's spider head then spit a pool of acid on Bow's general direction, who managed to avoid it by taking cover behind a boulder, where it melts and showing Bow visibly. Ryu, on the other hand, is trying to attack it from behind but the snake tail has been keeping him busy by attempting to bite him. Nina launched a barrage of thunder on it but seem to have no effect. The hybrid creature angrily charges toward Nina but she flew away and it ended up crashing into a tree.

"Damn it! This thing took our assault like it was nothing!" Jack snarled at the situation.

"We've got to get rid of its arms and its tail. It's the only way I can think off!" Diana suggested.

"Sound good enough for me! Let's kick its ass! Xing Long! Zack! On my mark!" Jack charged towards the creature where it began to turn around and raised its weapons to smash his head…..

….only to scream in pain when a nunchaku hit its head, temporarily stun it and its arms cut off by Diana's blaster edge and Zack's boomerang sword, who attack from a distance. Before it recovered, Jack sends a powerful blow to its chin, causing it to stagger backward. Then it screamed again when Xing Long slice off its snake tail and proceed to give it a slash on the torso. He back flipped away when it tries to crush him with its leg.

But then Yua suddenly appeared and has jumped on its back and proceed to cut its throat, which gush out green blood before she impressively uses her acrobatic skills to jump off the creature. The hybrid staggers for a while, then finally its legs gave way and it falls to the ground, unmoving.

Nina then cast a Flare spell on it, which immediately caught fire and burns. "Well, this creature is obviously weak against flame all right." She commented.

"Yeah….but this thing is sure is tough, that I could say." Jack breathes out in relief.

"You guys are good! I knew you are capable!" Katt then look at Ryu, who smile back sheepishly.

"I guess I was wrong about you guys. Sorry for doubting you." Selphie just waved him off. "Nah…the one who finished it off is your sister, not us." Yua seems beamed at the credit given to her.

"Buddies, I have to break it. But if this creature is powerful, do you think the castle itself….." Bow left the sentence hanging, but the others have already known what he wanted to say.

"I guess you're right. We've got to get there as fast as we can." Ryu spoke out which everyone nodded in agreement. Soon everyone quickly made their way through the forest, hopeful they can reach the castle before its too late.

Bale – Like Sindri, he's also a Chaos character from Warhammer 40000. I kinda like his unique voice, which I haven't heard since Dinobot of Beastwars….


	8. Chapter 7: Time to take action 2

**Breath of Fire: Of Time and Destiny**

**_Chapter Seven: Time to take action (2)_**

**Time:Goddess Era 2020**

**Location:Snowfield outside Windlan**

With a battle cry, Nina sliced an ice soldier into two when it tried to jump and attack her in the air. She and Raifel have stayed in the air for the duration of the battle, giving them an advantage against their enemies who cannot fly at all. Those foolishly jump to attack them will only get cut down by Nina and Raifel's swords. And that is exactly the case when the Ice Dragon soldiers did and the result is foreseeable.

Just as Nina has just cut one down, others took its place, but Nina swiftly slice, cut, jab and dice them in the end. Beside her, Raifel fought well by slicing and destroying his enemies, sometimes five at the same time.

"Looks like you don't need my help after all! Your swordplay is much better than we had practiced together! Your moves are pretty good too!" He spoke as he smashed an ice soldier to pieces.

"It looks like my battle sense from 6 months ago has finally come back!" She replied as she swiftly destroy another ice soldier by gracefully avoiding its attack and attack it from its back.

"I believe so too! And it looks like we don't have to worry about our new friends as well! They got pretty good moves too!"

Nina then briefly looks down at the battle below, taking advantage of the brief lull in her fight. There she can see Zeke, the Wing Clan troops and her five friends have fought furiously with the Ice Dragon army on the ground. Zeke is indeed one of the most experience soldiers in the Windlan Army, for he swing his battle staff with deadly moves which smashes down his enemies in his range and those who challenge him.

Stella uses her bat'leth (to Nina it looks like a two ended scimitar) and begin attacking several ice soldiers advancing towards her. The first one tried to hit her with its arm but Stella evaded it and in turn slices its arm with one end of her sword then she swirl around and slice it in half from the torso. She charges the second one and slams her sword hard in the chest, causing it to stumble. With a loud cry, she uses her sword in an uppercut motion, slicing it into two. As she lands, she raised her left palm with her eyes closed and after chanting a word and a glow from one of the colored orbs attached to the sword's handholds, a fire magic blast out from her palm and burn the third ice soldier which comes from her left and melts it.

Bob, using his katar on each arm, begin his dance of death by charging towards his enemies (from Nina's point of view, the word 'victims' seems more appropriate), slicing them in a black blur, instantly disintegrating them into pieces. One of the ice soldiers tried to punch him when he stop his dance of death, but the punch only hit the air and instantly it was in several pieces before it could comprehend what has happen.

"Sorry pal! You're just not fast enough!" Bob said with a big smile.

Elsewhere, Robert gracefully uses his rapier to its full effect, slicing and jabbing his enemies as he goes. Then he stop and chant a single word and the green orb at the hilt of the rapier glows, and a stone the size of a small house slams into a group of enemies, shattering them.

"Perhaps you gentlemen need to be taught a lesson about manners in a battlefield!" He says as he jab an ice soldier with quick succession, effectively turning it into a beehive of holes.

Miyako is swirling her naginata and slash the ice soldiers who came too close to her while protecting Raquel's flank. Using her naginata's range and her skill, she began slashing several enemies in one blow and jab several of them as well. Raquel on the other hand has been chanting, unlike Stella and Robert which just chant one word, and begin firing several fire arrows that decimate the enemy's ranks. Some ice soldiers tried to approach her but they were cut down by Miyako.

"Princess! We've got company!!" Nina looks up from the battle below and destroying an ice soldier just in time. Nina knew that Raifel's right about her friends' ability to defend themselves and she will be sure to satisfy her curiosity about the 'materia' that Stella once told her about after this battle is over.

But after an hour of battle, the tide of the battle has turn for the worse. Just as the eight combatants continue fighting, they all heard a large scream. By the time they turn around to the source, they saw Wing Clan soldiers falling one by one until they are the only ones left standing.

"So soldiers with little battle experience are no match for them….." Zeke took a moment to analyze the situation and make the following comment calmly.

"This is not good! It seems there are only eight of us that can still fight!" Miyako shout to her friends with a hint of panic.

"In that case, it's time to bring out the artillery!!!" Everyone turn to look at Stella who chants and now glows with an aura.

"Hey! Wait a sec-!" Miyako's sentence was left unfinished when Stella cried out a single word.

"IFRIT!!!!"

The red orb that is attached to the handhold of her bat'leth glows brightly and soon a magic circle appeared behind her. Flames began spewing out of the magic circle like a geyser, then a giant red beast appeared with a roar.

Nina looks at the red beast that Stella had summoned with awe (in the case of both Zeke and Raifel slack, jawed). The beast is generally red in color, with a dragon like snout and has blue horns on its head and sometimes spouts out fire from its mouth.

"All right, Ifrit! Do your stuff!" Stella cried out to her beast and points her finger to the army of ice dragon soldiers in front of her.

Ifrit roared in agreement and charged towards them in a ball of flame, flying over them with all the ice soldiers burned by the resulting fire trailing behind Ifrit. Miyako shook her head and put her hand on her forehead.

"Oh well…..might as well let loose for just this time…." She sighed and begins to chant and glow with an aura.

"BAHAMUT!!!"

Same thing happens to her as the red orb attached to her naginata glows brightly as well, only difference is that the magic circle appears high above her head. A mighty roar can be heard and a dark shape falls from the magic circle then spread its black wings and fly. Nina is astonished to see a dragon and it looks like Ryu in Kaiser form but only it is black in color and has two large horns on its head and it has much bigger wings.

"Bahamut! Destroy the ice soldiers in front of me!" The dragon roared in reply and began gathering energy in its mouth and fires it at the ice soldiers, instantly obliterated them.

"Wow! Looks like you've got all of them." Bob commented after the smoke dispersed. Indeed, right in front of them what supposed to be an army there, nothing but plain field sans the snow replaces it. Fortunately, the injured Wing Clan troops are not in the path of the attacks so there are no friendly fire casualties.

Nina, Raifel and Zeke can only stared at the aftermath of the destructive power unleash by two summoned beasts. But they are not the only one. Kruce, who had not cast a single spell in the entire battle, was shocked to see the whole event unfold before him. He knew his army might get annihilated, but from what he had learned about the world since they were sealed, they do not possessed the ability to summon beasts to fight by their side. He was beginning to wonder who these 'pests' are when a shout caught his attention.

"KRUCE!!!"

He looks down and saw Nina, Raifel and Zeke have flied towards him in high speed.

"You won't get away with this!!!" Nina shouted in anger.

"Hmph! I honestly do not think that you all are capable! I thought my advance guard should be more than enough to take Windlan, the country said to be peace loving……I will be looking forward to actually meeting you."

Nina pierced Kruce when he finished his speech, only to find that it was just ice she had pierced, which astonish her.

"Ice?!" Raifel says with astonishment.

"Kruce must have used the ice as a reflection of himself. He was never here in the first place! I thought it was strange for a sorcerer such as him to not cast a single spell….." Zeke explained.

"That bastard! Thinking he can take Windlan with just an advance guard….That's an insult to us! But, then again…." Raifel looked down at his injured comrades at the ground. "I guess I really can't boast when the advance guard gave us such a huge damage…."

Already on the ground, Raquel and her friends have begun helping to heal the injured as best as they could. Both Stella and Miyako have thanked the summoned beasts for their help and the beasts return to their respective materia, ready to be summoned next time. They then proceed to help with the others. It seems luck is at their side after all for miraculously there are no fatalities among the friendly troops, despite the enemies attack.

"Pull yourself together! Your wound is shallow compare to the others!" Zeke put in a commanding tone to one of the wounded soldiers nearby.

"Yes sir….I'll be okay…." The soldier tried to stand up but he winced at the pain and crumpled to the ground.

"Wait! I'll heal you with my magic…" Nina began casting her magic but to her surprise the soldier stop her.

"No….Princess…..There's no need for you to heal these trifling wound of mine….Besides you should save it for Ryu…"

"Huh?"

"Out of deference to the king, we couldn't take your side…..but we all support you, Princess…..Please, go to the Imperial Capital and Ryu….."

Nina felt overwhelmed by their conviction and support of her fellow countrymen, who all wished her to go to the Imperial Capital. After a while, she smiled back to them proudly.

"….Thank you….Yes!! If I meet Kruce again, I'll make him suffer like we have, but only three times worse! Raifel! Stella! Miyako! Raquel! Bob! Robert! Let's go to the Imperial Capital and save Ryu!"

"That's right!!!" Raifel shouted with agreement with the others nodding their heads. Raifel then proceeds to transform himself into a great bird so the others can board him and travel.

"Hmmm….So this is the Great Bird we heard about from Gaist….Interesting…." Robert made the comment before boarding the bird with the others. Raifel then flaps his wings and fly along with Nina.

"Princess! I can't approve of you going to the Imperial Capital!!!" Zeke protested to her.

"You're so thick headed, Zeke!!" Nina shouted back then flew off in the distance.

"Wha….The princess is so vulgar…" Then Zeke noticed Raifel and his passengers have flown off as well. "Hey Raifel! You guys!" Zeke began cursing in his native tongue before spreading his wings to fly after them as well.

"Wait! Wait for me, Princess, Raifel!! I'm coming too!!!"

------

Meanwhile, at the one of the hills near Windlan, Kruce was standing there and watching Nina and the others flying towards the direction of the Imperial Capital through one of his ice mirrors.

"Until the Ice Dragon King awakes, I will have to play with these insects for a little bit….It seems to be a long time since I have been on the ground…..and those humans…..whoever they are, they will regret opposing us in the end once I have finished with them……"

Then he laughs maniacally.

------

At the same time, there is another activity going on in a remote island somewhere in the northern sea. The island is covered with snow like every other land, but the atmosphere is quite different. Near the snow field of the island, dozens of black armored warriors armed with various weaponry, from swords to pikes and to crossbows, are standing guard. Before them are what remains of the Ice Dragon soldiers in pieces, sent to occupy this island but never got the chance to carry out that order.

Behind these groups of warriors, there is a cave where much of the activity is concentrated. There, dozens of black hooded magicians were chanting in front of a huge door which has some sort of seal on it. A distinct purple hooded man is standing behind them and watches the progress unfold.

"Hmph….Finally we have located one of 'them', only to find the stupid seal very powerful that it will take us time to unlock it…..But like that clan, this seal will fall in matter of time….."

"Astral!!!!"

The purple hooded man known as Astral narrowed his eyes and turn to see a big man with a scar on his right eye and donned in black armor walked in, his hammer carried on his shoulder as a support.

"Continue with your task. I won't be long." One of the magicians nodded his head and went to relay the order.

"What is it, Gaster? Can't you see I'm busy?" Astral spoke with an irritated voice.

"Those Ice Dragon soldiers did not present a challenge at all!! They so called most powerful warriors are not here!! I will like to go the mainland and face them in combat!!!"

"Do you have to think about fighting to satiate your battle lust? In case you didn't notice, our presence here must not be found out by anyone, not to those Ice Dragon fools and the eight heroes! Those Ice Dragons are useful only for our distraction and therefore not to be destroy…..Unless you want to complain it to our Masters…..They can 'help' you with that…."

"No…I wouldn't dare….but that witch has went to the mainland though!!"

"Sariana has been dispatched there to observe the situation, not interfere and fighting like you….Now get back to your post, Gaster! You got to make sure those stupid Ice Dragons never make it here alive….."

Just then, a black armored warrior went in and interrupts their conversation.

"My lords! Another wave of Ice Dragon soldiers approaching!"

"See? Now go out there and kill them all. I have a seal to crack." With that, he went to the sealed door and proceeds with the ceremony. Gaster grunted at Astral's back, but went out with the warrior to prepare for another bloodbath.

**Time:Goddess Era 2520**

**Location:Forests near Highfort**

A zombie's head has just been displaced by a sword, wielded by a certain blue haired teenager. He breathes out a sigh of relief and look at his friends, who have just finished off a group of zombies and skeleton swordsmen, which they have encountered recently. Ever since they made first contact with the Hybrid when they first entered the forest, they have encounter such creatures again, one of each encounter, besides the usual zombies, skeleton knights and skeleton warriors.

Thanks to the experience of fighting the first one and the fact there is only one per encounter, Ryu and his friends has no trouble dispatching them. Even so, Ryu is still worry about the situation if they encounter more than one. Sure, against one they may have the upper hand, but against more of them he doubt it is going to be easy. He also wonders how his friend Sten is doing. Last he heard Sten has been promoted to General of the Imperial Guard in charge of protecting the Queen, talk about huge responsibility but Ryu believes he is more than capable to do that, despite his occasional quirkiness.

Now he hopes he and his friends could get to Highfort without trouble and assess the situation. That way, as Jack suggested, they might also find out who is the culprit behind all this and put a stop to this. Highlanders may be warrior clan but they are still living beings who needs food and rest while their enemies compose of only undead and they have no need for such things…..

"Something on your mind?"

Ryu jerked his head up and relaxed when he sees it is Jack who was talking to him.

"Just thinking about the current situation…….Wonder if everyone at the castle is ok…."

"Hey! Don't worry! You say the Highlanders are warrior clan, right? Besides with some of the veteran rangers and your friend Sten there, I believe they probably kick those undead asses by now!"

"…." Ryu tried to smile back but his worry look still betray him.

"If you're still worry about them, then we should double time and get to Highfort then! After we find out who the hell is behind this, we'll kick his ass back to the hole he came from!"

"You just put my thought out of my mouth but thanks for being considerate, Jack." Jack then gave him a wink and a thumbs up.

"Anytime Ryu! But speaking of Highfort, are we there yet?" He looks around of his surrounding. "I feel like we have been walking in circles lately."

"Unfortunately, you were right. We have been walking in the same place at least seven times now……" Everyone then turn to look at Xing Long who walks toward them with his katana unsheathe.

"Huh? How do you know about that?" Katt asks.

Xing Long then pointed his katana at the nearby tree that has seven straight line marks on it. "See that? I have already marked it on this particular tree since I find it familiar the first time around. I believe we are here for at least 2 hours now….."

"What!!! Why didn't you say so in the first place!!?" Yua shouted at him with a disbelief expression.

"You guys are too busy killing monsters and frankly I couldn't find the right time to say it until now." Xing Long replied with a straight face, which made Yua tapping her foot in frustration.

"So, in other words, we are lost….." Nina spoke softly. Zack immediately glare at Xing Long.

"Why didn't you say so in the first place? Now you made Nina worry because of you not telling us!"

"You basically ask the same question like Yua did…..and are you deaf? Haven't you heard what I just said to Yua?"

"Why you…!"

"Stop it! That's enough! Save your anger for the undead!" Selphie stop them before an argument broke out.

"She's right. Getting into an argument with each other will not change the fact we are lost. Blaming Xing Long as well is useless." Nina spoke as well, which Zack lower his head in shame.

"Yeah…I guess you're right. Sorry for lashing out at you, Xing Long." Xing Long, Jack and Selphie looks at him with shock since Zack never easily apologise after insulting someone even though he is the guilty one. Diana just laughs softly to herself.

"Apology accepted." Xing Long quickly recovers and responded to Zack.

"Now that is out of the way, what should we do, buddies? Damn it, if Spar is here, we would be out of this forest in no time!" Bow spoke.

"Spar? Is he one of your traveling companions you guys told us about? The one with Treeman Clan?"

"That's a Grassman Clan, Zack. And yes, he is. He can communicate with trees to know what happen in the area and he can navigate forests better than anyone else. Someone you definitely want especially in our situation." Bow explained.

Before anyone can say any further, there was a cracking sound and Ryu is the first to turn to the origin of the sound, only to find something sailed towards him. He quickly snapped his arm up, catching it before it could connect. Everyone gaped with disbelief while Ryu have a crooked grin on his face for he held a vine-like whip.

"Nice try, Spar."

Ryu then look at the direction where the other end of the whip originate and a figure began to materialize out of it. Jack take a good look at him and just as what Ryu and the others have described to him, his face does look like feminine and his cloths seems to made up of leaves, giving him a perfect blend in with the environment.

"Wow….We were just talking about you and you just came out….What a good way to say hello to your friends…" Bow shrugged to his friend.

"I was merely testing Ryu's ability to react and it seems that three months has not weakened you at all." Spar spoke logically.

"Well, I'm still as fast as I was before. Oh yeah, I need to introduce you to…."

"I know. This is Jack, Selphie, Zack, Diana and Xing Long. And to answer your question of how I know your names, the forest have already told me while you were here." He spoke with a straight face to the shocked said group.

"So you already know, good old Spar. Then you should know by now the seriousness of the situation." Ryu spoke with a tone of seriousness.

"Indeed I do, Ryu. Highfort is indeed in need of assistance. Come! I shall show you the fastest way to reach there." With that said, he turns towards the path. The others then follow him shortly.

Just as Bow said about Spar's ability to go through the forest, he has help led the group out of the forest in half an hour and reach the gates of Highfort itself. But there are no guards visible at the post and the gate is retracted, making it impassable through the wide chasm.

"All right….so how do we get in if the bridge is not down and no one to help?" Selphie noted to her friends. Ryu sighed at the situation.

"Well, time to put my dragon power to good use. Stay back, everyone!" Ryu began to concentrate as an aura began to envelope him. Then he cried out and soon the aura dissipates to reveal 15 foot tall dragon.

Jack and his four friends stare at Ryu with awe and Ryu began gesturing everyone to climb on his back. Everyone complied and the dragon soon flaps his wings and flies over the wall, landing softly inside the fortress. After he has made sure his passengers disembark, he changed back to human-looking Ryu.

"So? What do you guys think?" He pointed that question with a grin to Jack and the others, who are still speechless.

"That will have to wait. Have you all seen or hear anything yet?" Spar spoke and everyone look around them. Indeed, once Jack observes the town, he found that there was evidence of life all right with baskets of fruit and carts abandoned in the now deserted pavement. No sound can be heard as well, making it looks like a ghost town.

"I didn't hear anything….Do you guys think we're…." Selphie says timidly.

"Don't say that, Selphie. Don't." Xing Long spoke with a tone of neutrality.

Suddenly, a bell rang several times in a distance and a voice, amplified by magic artifact, began to announce in an urgent voice.

"All available personnel to the east section immediately! We have a breach of defense perimeter! I repeat! All available personnel to the east section now!"

"That was Trubo's voice! The leader of the Highlander's elite shock troopers!!" Nina spoke with a hint of surprise.

"If he sounds urgent, that means the situation can't be good! We've got to help them." Zack immediately unsheathe his boomerang swords.

"So buddy, what do you say?" Bow cocked his crossbow with a grim expression.

"You don't have to ask me about that." Ryu replied grimly as he unsheathes his sword as well.

"Then let's go!" Soon everyone began racing towards the section, eager to help the defenders repel the undead threat. On their way there, they saw several Highlander soldiers and rangers heading to that direction as well. Some of the soldiers look at them with a surprise expression, probably wondering how these people get in the castle. Just then Ryu and Bow recognized one of the rangers who head there as well.

"Ranger Kale!!" The said ranger stops, turns around and faces them. He is a man with short black hair and black beard, with streaks of grey hair. His face, though age, has show that he is a wise and skillful warrior.

"Ryu! Bow! Since when did you…Oh never mind that! We have bigger problems at hand! You can fill me in later!" Kale says as they all race to the section.

"How bad is it?"

"Worse. Those creatures managed to dig their way through some sort of underground cavern right under Highfort and smashed their way out. We've managed to contain them but they have kept up the pressure on these two important points. I doubt we can last much longer if this keeps going."

"The creatures you mentioned….Do they have spider body at the lower torso and has human body with a snake tail?" Bow asks.

"So you met them…..Yep, never seen anything like it. These creatures are the worse things I ever seen in my years as a ranger and quite an effective killing machine too." Kale replied grimly.

The conversation ended when they reach the scene of the battlefield and Ryu and his friends are horrified at what they saw. They are corpses everywhere, ranging from Highlanders, Hybrids and some rangers to zombies and skeletons. Wailings of injured and dying, call for assistance, help and war cries can be heard in the background and there are various fortifications being build around a giant hole, presumably where the undead attacks from.

"Woah! You guys are probably the last people I expected in this hell hole." Everyone turn to see a monkey with higher ranking (judging from its armor Jack noted) jumping down from a nearby wall, fatigue and exhaustion has taken a toll on him with his shoulders drooped as evidence.

"Trubo! We heard the situation is bad! Is everything ok now?" Nina asks with concern.

"Yeah, for now. We managed to beat them back for now, but I don't know when they will attack again."

"When did this attack happen?" Ryu asks as he looks at injured soldiers and rangers alike being taken by medics to nearby shelters and other soldiers and rangers running around doing their tasks.

"About a week ago. These creatures just suddenly break through the ground in this pavement you saw and started attacking. Fortunately we managed to contain them and keep them bog down. But these creatures and undead have been attacking us through night and day, we barely have enough time to rest, let alone seal the hole they make. We may hold them off now, but there's no telling how we can keep defending with the condition my men in."

"Then the army of undead that now surrounds the area…."

"Possibly choking off more reinforcements from helping us or preventing us from escaping. I'll tell you, if we don't find a way to stop them, we might be overrun anytime soon."

"Where's Sten now?" Ryu spoke with a hint of desperation in his voice; consider he heard so many bad news in one day did not help at all.

"He's at the north section where there is another hole has been opened up. The fighting is the most ferocious there……"

Before the commander could finish his sentence, a ranger cried out from the wall has everyone turn their heads to him.

"Heads up!!! Incoming second wave!!!!"

Ryu give a quick glance at his friends, as if conveying his orders to them wordlessly. Everyone began springing to action, with Bow and Diana climbing up to the nearest wall, Nina flying to another wall, Jack, Zack, Xing Long, Spar, Yua and Katt spread out along with Ryu to the frontline. Both Kale and Turbo began barking their command to their troops and they all prepared their weapons.

Jack noticed that Highlanders never seem to arm themselves with heavier weapons, for they are equip with daggers and katar, some with short swords as their melee weapons while instead of bows and arrows, they are armed with slingshots as ranged weapons. The rangers on the other hand never wear heavy armor, relying on agility to compensate in battle. Their weapons consist of long swords, pikes, spears, long bows and crossbows.

The loud inhuman cry sound cut Jack's thought short as the Hybrids, along with zombies and skeletons, began climbing out of the hole. Both Kale and Turbo have ordered their men to open fire and soon rains of fire arrows and bombs flying towards their targets, blowing a good number of them. But that was soon replaced by more and in a few moments later, the combatants have entered melee combat.

------

Meanwhile, on top of the forest's airspace, the Great Bird has been flying at the same area for some time, wondering how Nina and her friends are doing and whether they have already left the forest or not.

Without warning, a sphere suddenly fired out from somewhere within the forest and immediately encased the bird inside, giving it no time at all to react except a squark in surprise.

Mina tried to free itself from the magic sphere but to no avail. Soon the ball flew towards back to a field in the middle of the forest, where three black armored persons are waiting there.

"Ah yes….Finally I have caught you, little bird. It is a good thing you flew in the same place so that I could easily find and capture you. After all, I did invest some time and effort to make sure the Destined Child and his allies to bring you here, not the usual teleportation spell that will have you obsolete."

"Grrrr….If you have finished mumbling to yourself, Sindri….We should quickly finished this 'errand' as soon as possible."

"Don't be so impatient, Lord Bale. This is a precious 'cargo' in this era where she is the only one in the whole world. I wouldn't want to 'damage' her in some way that will displease our ally."

"Forgive me for asking, Sindri. But why is this bird useful to our ally? I failed to see the logic of that in terms of tactical." The two men turn to see the third warrior who is clad in black armor, has black beard and hair and his spear is slung behind his back.

"My dear Ptolomea (1), this bird of course does not have strategic value of any kind. But our ally has more use of her since this bird was once a human. More precisely a Wing Clan Princess who have sacrificed her humanity to help the Destined Child and his allies to defeat St Eva Church." He turns to the bird who is still struggling against the magical bind.

"And now our ally wants to use her to….how should I say….to advance their knowledge on a certain experiments….."

"It pains me to use this individual for a lunatic experiment of a mad man, even though it is for our long term benefit…..She has already sacrificed enough……"

"Because your honor will not allowed it? Ptolomea, you must be careful on how you use that honor, it might become your downfall in the end. We are here not to judge someone who is nothing but a tool but to fulfill a greater purpose set by our Masters which even these lunatics will never dream of. You should know that by now."

Ptolomea looks as if he is not satisfied with the decision but he remains silence. Bale then spoke in an irritated manner.

"Now that it is decided, we should go now and deliver this bird. That way our ally will not have to bug us all the time."

"Agreed, Lord Bale. Now shall we all go?"

Sindri then raised his staff up and began chanting some arcane magic, then a black light soon engulf them all in a flash and disappear, leaving only a few rainbow-colored feathers behind.

(1) Ptolomea – A villain from Wild Arms 2, probably one of the rarest enemy that still has the sense of honor in every game you could think of.


End file.
